The Folly

This building is a barn and cattle shed with an eye-catcher, now converted into a residence. The north-west range, originally the barn, was built in the late 18th or early 19th century. The eye-catcher and attached cattle shed, in a Gothic style, were likely constructed in the mid-19th century, certainly by 1879. It is believed they may have been designed by George Cheeseman Senior (1789-1866) or George Cheeseman Junior (1814-82), possibly for George Grantham of Barcombe Place.

The building incorporates a mix of materials: flint, red brick dressings and lacing courses, some stone quoins, and brickwork. The roof is tiled.

The building’s layout includes a five-bay barn running north-east to south-west, with an eye-catcher added to its south-west end and a single-storey former cattle shed facing south-east.

The south-west elevation features a tall castellated structure at the north end with a recessed centre displaying three stone shields. A central four-centred arch, finished in Roman cement and decorated with shield corbels, is now fitted with a 21st-century glazed door. Flanking corner towers, square in shape, have blocked arrow-slit windows on two floors. The return of the north tower also has arrow-slit windows. The north tower extends higher than the central section, featuring stone corbels. The south tower was designed to appear ruined. A single-storey stone building is attached to the north end and includes a projecting wall with stone quoins and an arrow-slit window. The south-west wall is of stone with four stone buttresses, a wooden stable door, and a projecting gabled stone section followed by a brick end in a Sussex bond pattern.

The north-west elevation of the former barn is flint with a brick lacing course and quoins. It has a central cart entrance, now glazed, and two large brick arches that were originally blocked with brickwork but are now glazed.

The south-east side of the former barn is flint with brick end quoins and two lacing courses. A central cart entrance is glazed, and three windows with brick surrounds have been incorporated into the lower walls.

The north-east side of the single-storey former cattle stalls is red brick in English bond. A projecting porch was added in the early 21st century, with three 21st-century windows and a stable door. The southern end has a stone gable, and the building ends in red brick.

Inside the barn, the bay posts are curved, and the trusses feature angled queen struts and collar beams. The roof has staggered purlins and a ridge-piece. Notably, internal room partitioning and a staircase added in the early 21st century are not considered to be of special architectural or historic interest under planning legislation.