Snape Barn

Snape Barn is a barn that was later converted into a great hall and subsequently into a house. It likely dates from the late 15th century or early 16th century, with some alterations and extensions made around 1900 by George Barham of Express Dairy Co Ltd, who also adapted the adjoining farmhouse as his residence. Further alterations took place in the mid-1950s. The barn is timber-framed and clad in weatherboarding, standing on a sandstone plinth, with a steeply pitched tiled roof featuring a stepped brick chimneystack added around 1900 at the southern end.

On the east side, there is a gabled porch from around 1900, which is timber-framed with pebbledashed infill, bargeboards, and a Jacobean-style finial and pendant displaying the initials VR and GB for George Barham. The upper part of the building has leaded light windows from around 1900, some of which contain coloured heraldic glass, while the lower part features mid-20th century casement windows. The west side includes a lead rainwater head from around 1900, decorated with a fleur de lys, and a flat-roofed timber structure from the 1950s.

Inside, the barn has five bays and a collar rafter roof with square-section crown posts, the northernmost of which was replaced around 1900. The collar has curved headbraces, and the two central crown posts feature ogee-shaped down braces, while the southernmost post has curved down braces to the tie beam. Additional pairs of diagonal braces were added to the crown posts around 1900, along with purlins. The wall frame includes a midrail and pairs of curved or ogee bracing above each bay, with one pair missing in the southwesternmost bay. The original central cart entrance was modified around 1900 by adding curved braces to the east and replacing the framing without braces to the west. Many of the main beams are stop-chamfered with run-out stops. The southern end features a gallery from around 1900, supported on a reused 17th-century beam with a triangular stop and plastered decorative panels above. Access to the gallery is via a narrow wooden winder staircase. Uniquely, the fireplace is faced with pebbles. The barn is shown on a map of the manor of Birdham from 1796.