Barn at Down Farm

Barn, initially built as a threshing barn, dating to at least the mid-C17 to mid-C18 with possible earlier origins, porch added by the mid-C19.

MATERIALS: a timber-frame structure with a brick and stone plinth. It is clad in weatherboarding, and the hipped roof is covered in clay tiles.

PLAN: the barn has five bays and is orientated east to west, with a central pair of opposing entrances; there is a porch on the north side. The building is located on a slope running north down to the south.

EXTERIOR: a single-storey building with a substantial hipped roof. The wall base is constructed of stone and brick. Areas of brickwork have been replaced in the C20 or C21, including most of the eastern half of the south elevation. The upper half of the walls are timber-frame and clad in weatherboarding. A large section of weatherboarding has been lost within the western end of the south elevation; there is also a reused multi-pane window inserted between the studs. At the centre of the south elevation is a large opening; there are no extant doors. Opposite, on the north elevation, is a timber-frame hipped-roof porch with a brick base; it includes a pair of C20 or C21 timber doors.

INTERIOR: several of the timbers within the barn’s frame have corresponding carpenters’ assembly marks, indicating much of the original structure survives within the main barn frame. The timber frame consists of jowelled posts with straight braces. Between the principal posts, the wall frame consists of studs with diagonal passing braces, as well as cill beams and wall plates. The end walls have a further row of studs and posts and the hipped roof ends. There are four principal trusses with tie beams, queen posts, additional raked struts, and collars. The roof structure includes two rows of staggered trenched purlins and a square ridge purlin, as well as four pairs of principal rafters joined by yoke pieces, and further pairs of common rafters. The north wall plate and cill beam have been cut into with the addition of the porch. Within the main body of the barn there is evidence of some replacement C20 timbers, as well as a small number of reused timbers. Later timbers have also been added to reinforce the frame. The porch, added between the mid-C18 and mid-C19, has stud walls with passing braces, wall plates, and cill beams. The roof has a raked-queen-strut truss with a tie beam resting on the wall plates and a pair of principal rafters, common rafters, a pair of staggered purlins, and a ridge board. The frame of the porch indicates that most of the timbers have been reused from elsewhere. Near the centre of the barn are two pairs of C20 concrete-block stall partitions; attached to one set of walls are a pair of historic timbers which have been reused in the barn as posts.

The stable wing attached to the south of the barn, the detached remains of the former west wing and a detached pump house to the south-west are not included in the listing.