Barn At Duckings

A timber-framed barn dating to the late 16th century, with additions and alterations in the early 18th and early 19th centuries. The barn, located in Withyham, sits on a sandstone plinth and has a tiled roof, hipped to the east and gabled to the west. The exterior is timber-framed with five bays. The central cart entrance on the north side features full-height cart doors, of 20th-century date but retaining earlier pintle hinges.

The interior reveals an original four-bay structure, extended to the east by one bay in the early 18th century. The initial late 16th-century section consisted of a waggon bay, flanked by a storage bay to the east and two storage bays to the west. Evidence suggests the building originally extended further west with a lean-to structure. The barn incorporates numerous reused timbers, including medieval rafters, heavy principal posts with redundant brace mortices, girding beams, wall plates, and roof collars. The wall frame includes a midrail and the principal posts feature swelling and splayed jowls, along with some curved braces. The roof is of side purlin construction with queenposts, features curved windbraces to two bays on the rear slope, and a high-set collar beam to the hipped end. Rope stains suggest the roof was originally thatched. The early 18th-century addition includes a storage bay with closely spaced roof rafters, and the hipped terminal lacks a high-set collar at the apex; the curved braces used in this section are likely reused. The east gable wall dates from the early 19th century.

The barn is documented on a map of 1597 and forms part of the original farmstead.