Barn, Stables And Coach House East Of Chequers

This building is a barn, stables, and coach house located east of Chequers, dating from the late 18th century, with extensions from the late 19th century. It features a weatherboarded timber frame resting on a brick plinth, topped with a thatched roof that has gabled ends.

The structure has a long, five-bay layout. The three southern bays are part of a late 17th-century timber-framed barn, which includes a central threshing bay with a mid-18th-century midstrey on the east side. In the late 19th century, the cart entrance on the west side was blocked, and the barn was extended by two bays at the northern end to create stables and a coach house with a loft above. Additionally, an outshut was constructed in the left (south) angle of the midstrey during the 19th century.

On the exterior, the building is single-storey with a loft at the north end. The east side features a weatherboarded midstrey to the left of center, which has a half-hipped roof, double doors for the cart entrance, and an outshut on the left with a tiled lean-to roof. There are also double doors at the extreme right. The west side has plank double doors leading to the coach house on the left, a stable door at the center with pivot windows between, and a blocked cart entrance on the right with a window inserted. The south gable end has large double doors, and there are steps leading to a loft doorway in the north gable end.

Inside, the barn displays wall framing with full-height studs, lacking mid-rails, short tension-braces, and jowled wall-posts with straight braces to the tie-beams of the queen-post trusses, which are equipped with clasped-purlins and a complete set of common-rafter couples. The midstrey is similarly framed. The north extension also features a queen-post roof, while the stables contain Victorian loose-boxes and are ceiled.

Overall, this is a largely intact late 17th-century timber-framed barn that was extended in the late 19th century to accommodate stables and a coach house, all of which is weatherboarded and thatched.