Jenkins Barn

Jenkins Barn

A former threshing barn, now a house, built in the late 16th or early 17th century. Aisles were added to the east side and a timber-framed single-storey addition, probably a stable, was attached in about the 18th century. The barn was converted into a house in 1934 when two brick chimney stacks, a first floor, windows and doorways were added. Further alterations occurred in the 2000s when windows and doors were replaced.

The building is an oak timber-framed barn and attached stable, now a dwelling, clad in weatherboarding with a concrete tile roof covering.

The former threshing barn is three bays long and two storeys high, with the main east front facing Horsham Road. The central bay is rendered and the flanking bays are weatherboarded. At the centre of the east elevation are two 1930s timber-boarded doors made by The Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Company, Blyth, Northumberland, from teak taken from HMS Powerful. The doors are flanked by two uPVC side lights and covered by a tiled porch. Above the porch is a row of three uPVC casement windows. There is a tile-covered gabled roof and two corbelled chimney stacks positioned on each side of the central bay. The roof continues as a cat-slide over the projecting aisles of the flank bays. The right-hand (north) bay has uPVC glazed French doors and a small uPVC casement window, with a gabled dormer window set in the roof above. The left-hand (south) bay has a timber-framed single-storey former stable extending to the east, largely weatherboarded with a gabled and tiled roof in which are set two Velux windows. In the east-facing gable end is a timber-boarded door and a small uPVC window, whilst to the side elevations are two uPVC casement windows. The side elevations of the former barn have an irregular composition of variously one, two or three-light uPVC casement windows. The west elevation, facing the rear garden, has a set of glazed patio doors to the central bay beneath a three-light window, and then three-light uPVC windows to the ground and first floor of the flanking bays.

The interior plan has the ground floor hallway occupying the central bay, with a lounge and dining room in the side bays. These flanking bays project as aisles to the east under a cat-slide roof, containing a study and bathroom to the northern bay and a small snug or sitting room to the southern bay. On the first floor of the former barn are three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The former stable, attached to the south end of the east front, contains a kitchen and utility room.

The former barn is constructed of a post and truss timber frame on a low masonry plinth, three bays long. The central bay now forms a hallway with a 1930s staircase supported on a sawn-off timber arcade or wall post, with the flanking bays separated from it by brick walls each containing a chimney stack. The lounge contains a brick fireplace with a timber lintel, whilst the dining room has a faux Georgian fireplace. The timber frame is largely visible internally, including oak sole plates, large wall panels across both floors, braces, wall plates and roof structure. There are a number of relocated, replacement and modern 20th-century machine-cut timbers, especially surrounding some of the windows. Metal straps support some of the joints of the structure. The timber frame continues to the projecting aisles of the side bays on the east side of the barn. The north bay, now a study and bathroom, has a blocked doorframe, large panels and a straight brace in the north wall, whilst the east wall appears to have been largely repaired or replaced with modern machine-cut timbers, probably when the French door was originally inserted. The south bay, now a snug, has large panels, an aisle tie and strut supporting the roof where the common rafters are visible. A door in the east wall leads through to the former stable, which is timber-framed and open to the roof. The frame rests on a low masonry plinth and several posts have mortices visible. There appears to be a blocked former doorway in the east wall. There are two tie beams to the roof, wall plates and common rafters. On the upper floor of the former barn, the northern bay contains straight braces to the upper panels. There is a clasped purlin roof structure with tie beams supported by straight up-braces and straight queen struts supporting the purlins. The wall plate and rafters are visible on much of the upper floor and attic. However, a large body of 20th-century machine-cut timbers have been inserted into the attic spaces to support the roof structure.