Barn At Pitch Place Farm

Barn at Pitch Place Farm

A former barn with stabling, later converted into residential accommodation. The building dates from the late 17th or early 18th century, with stable outshots added in the late 18th or early 19th century. It underwent alterations in 1990 and 2002.

The barn is constructed mainly as timber-framed structure clad in weatherboarding, set on a coursed sandstone rubble plinth. The lower part of the eastern wall and the south wall are built of Bargate stone rubble. The stable outshots to the north and east are of ironstone with galleting and brick quoins. The roof is of 20th-century tiles, half-hipped to the south and hipped over the northern outshot, with a catslide covering the east outshot.

The building comprises three unequal bays. Originally it had central cart entrances, which were relocated to the south bay when the stable outshots were added. The interior now contains a living room with a gallery overlooking the former barn space, with bedrooms and kitchen in the former stabling areas.

The west side is clad with weatherboarding and features three casement windows, a glazed door, and full-height French windows in the southern cart bay. The south end wall is of stone rubble, reconstructed using original material after 1990, with a weatherboarded half-hipped gable containing a casement window. The east side has weatherboarding to the upper part of the south bay with a four-light French window at midrail height, replacing the former cart doors. Below this is a lower former stable outshot of painted stone rubble featuring a wide former stable opening, converted around 2002 into French windows, with additional casement windows nearby. The north side contains former stabling of ironstone rubble with galleting and brick quoins; a former muck door has been converted into a casement. A later brick dung enclosure with partly tumbled walls is attached to the north wall but is not of special interest.

Internally, the eastern wall of the former barn retains timber-framing above the midrail with slightly curved tension braces. Below the midrail, the frame was replaced by Bargate stone rubble with some galleting. The north wall, which was the original end wall before the northern outshot was added, retains its plinth, midrail, central post, and tiebeam. Pre-conversion photographs reveal four upright posts below the midrail. One panel infill has been removed to create access between the former barn and former north outshot, with a two-panel plank door fixed at the eastern end. Above the midrail, infill has been completely removed, exposing two curved tension braces. Above the tiebeam are queenposts. The wallplate has either been reused or turned around and bears a sequence of carpenters' marks. The west wall retains upright posts between the bays, but the frame and stone walling below the midrail were removed in 2002. The south wall has been plastered over the stone rubble, which was reconstructed in 1990. The roof structure is a clasped purlin roof with angled queen struts and curved tension braces to the tiebeams. The west-side purlin of the north bay has been replaced. Most original rafters remain, though four secondary braces were added for strengthening. The eastern outshot retains many original rafters. The northern outshot has visible original rafters and a three-plank ledged door with pintle hinges. A section of old weatherboarding with incised lettering has been preserved internally.

Pitch Place Farm was formerly part of the Dye House estate. A 1978 plan documenting the building in agricultural use shows a loose box in the northern outshot with a muck door for pitching dung, and three small loose boxes in the eastern outshot, the southernmost called the donkey house. Historic photographs show a triangular stone buttress in the centre of the south wall prior to its 1990 reconstruction. During the 1970s and 1980s, the barn occasionally housed artwork exhibitions. In 2002, the building was converted into ancillary accommodation for Pitch Place Farm.