Cadwell Farm Barns

Cadwell Farm Barns is a range of three timber-framed barns, probably constructed between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries, situated in open countryside south-east of Chalgrove village in Brightwell Baldwin. The buildings are of vernacular construction and not known to have been designed by a named architect.

The three barns abut each other in-line, all built on stone plinths with weather-boarding and red flat-tile roofs. All three employ cranked inner principals—curved, cruck-like braces rising within the main roof trusses between tiebeam and collar—a form of construction found primarily in agricultural buildings in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and South Oxfordshire, with dated examples spanning 1651 to 1882, though the majority were built in the mid to late 18th century.

Barn 1, closest to the farmhouse, is the tallest but shortest of the three, comprising three bays and two storeys, probably dating to the mid-18th century. Its timber frame is of poor quality, made from waney, roughly cleaved scantlings with many retaining bark on curved outer edges. A double doorway opens to the north at gable end ground floor, with a single doorway to the first floor. The ground floor is undivided. A rubble stone sill supports the wall plate with vertical studs and diagonal braces. The first floor is tall, employing notably long cranked inner principals (Clark's Type C1, 'dropped tiebeam') to gain height, with twin purlins and many original common rafters supplemented by new ones when the building was felted and retiled in the later 20th century. Wooden grain bins run the full length of either side, defining the first floor as a granary. Modern single-storey lean-tos are attached to the west and east sides.

Barn 2 abuts the south end of Barn 1. Of three bays and two storeys, probably dating to the late 18th or early 19th century, its timber frame is made of sawn members, markedly different in character from Barn 1. A doorway in the west wall opens into the undivided ground floor, which has a rubble stone sill with inner walls clad in plyboard concealing studding. The first floor is loft-like. End trusses employ Clark's type A1b cranked inner principal construction ('clasped purlin and raking strut'), whilst type C1 inner trusses ('dropped tiebeam') feature braced tie-beams. A door with dormer roof is positioned mid-way down the east side. A modern single-storey lean-to is attached to the west side.

Barn 3 abuts the south end of Barn 2 and is of very similar framing character, employing sawn timber, probably contemporary with Barn 2. It is of three bays and one storey, with a doorway in the west wall. Trusses are of Clark's type A1b with braced tie-beams. Walls and roof cladding conceal wall studding, though this is partly visible to the exterior through gaps in the weather-boarding. The south gable wall and part of the west wall have been rebuilt in breeze block.

Cadwell Farm stands within a landscape that historical records show once contained a larger courtyard arrangement. Late 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps reveal that the farmhouse, a substantial early to mid-18th-century structure of limestone rubble with ashlar quoins (also listed Grade II), originally stood at the north-east corner of a square courtyard with the barn range forming the east range of the complex, facing a conventional threshing barn. The scale and date of the 18th-century farmhouse and barns suggest the possibility that the farm was established or rebuilt around the time of inclosure.