The Barn And Attached Stable At Sharp'S Place

The Barn and Attached Stable at Sharp's Place

A timber-framed threshing barn with an attached stable, both of historic importance and agricultural character.

The barn is probably early 17th century in origin, though its roof is a replacement of early 19th-century date. It is timber-framed, clad with weatherboarding, and stands on galletted Kentish ragstone footings with some red brick repairs and underbuilding. The half-hipped roof is part pegtiled but has been largely replaced with corrugated iron. The barn runs roughly north to south on a platform with ground falling away to the west and north towards the stockyard. It comprises five bays. The southern bay is lofted and was formerly divided from the main barn. The main barn has opposing doorways to the threshing floor, the second bay from the north end containing the primary threshing area. The east (rickyard) doorway is full height with early 20th-century double doors. A low west doorway is raised above ground level. A pedestrian doorway through the south end leads into the lofted section. The north end contains two boarded hatches.

The wall frame is largely intact, though it has been underbuilt or rebuilt in places. The structure incorporates a midrail with curving tension braces to the upper part. The wider north end bay contains an intermediate post. Main posts feature jowls and curving arched braces to the tie beams. Main posts on each side have jowls both to the midrail and tie beam, with curving tension braces running from the midrail to the posts. The tie and midrail both show various tenons for removed studs. The lower tier displays evidence of wattle and daub infill and probably had arched braces from post to rail. Large joists support the loft, bearing a good series of assembly marks. The roof is secondary, probably early 19th-century, with queen strut and clasped purlin construction, although many common rafters retain halvings for collars. The threshing floor retains large timber baulks and low boarded walls on each side.

The attached stable is probably late 17th or early 18th-century, with some 18th and 19th-century alterations. It is timber-framed, clad with weatherboarding, and stands on English bond red brick footings with extensions of English bond brickwork and some rebuilding in Kentish ragstone rubble. The roof is part pegtiled but mostly replaced with corrugated iron. The stable is lofted and built roughly east to west, facing south onto the rickyard with the stockyard behind. It is built against the east side (north end) of the barn and comprises four bays, the west end bay being an extension. The main part has two front doorways at each end, all with plain 19th or 20th-century joinery. The brick section includes patches or blocking of stone rubble. The brickwork does not reach full height but extends above the loft floor level. A blocked window appears in the end wall. A secondary rear doorway leads through to a 20th-century milking parlour.

The main section features wall framing with a midrail and a series of stout pegged upright struts as infill. Crossbeams between the main posts and axial beams create a panelled ceiling, now supported by 20th-century brick piers. A former crosswall existed between the second and third bays from the west. The extension in the east bay has axial joists. The loft of the original section was originally open from end to end. Former end trusses and the truss against the barn are tie beam trusses of classic pegged A-frame construction with queen strut and clasped purlin design. Other trusses are tie beam trusses with raking queen posts to clasped purlins and include straight windbraces. The end bay has framing with straight tension braces and incorporates reused timbers. The concrete floor is worn away in places to reveal cobbles with drains. In the loft, the third bay from the west has an upper floor carried on an axial beam slung between the tie beams. A doorway at the top retains a reused domestic door.

The buildings were surveyed as part of the Kent Farmstead Survey in 1994.