The Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey

The Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey is a monastic barn, with the earliest fabric potentially dating to the 13th century. The roof structure largely appears to be from the late 15th century, although it was thoroughly repaired in the 1930s and may have replaced an earlier roof. Constructed from local red sandstone and grey limestone rubble, it features a slate roof with gabled ends.

The barn is situated southwest of the 14th-century gatehouse, oriented roughly east to west, and comprises 16 bays with opposed porches in the central bay. The exterior is characterized by its impressive size, featuring 10 buttresses to each side and three at each end, with the central buttresses at each end being taller. Gabled porches are present, each with buttressed fronts and coped gables. The north side has small arched doorways positioned between buttresses three and four, and seven and eight (counting from the east), with a corresponding doorway on the south side to the eastern doorway. Four deeply splayed slit breathers are found on each long side. The north porch has a small segmental-headed doorway on its east return, and the south porch has similar doorways on both of its returns. The east end contains three slit breathers, while the west end has two. Plank doors, fitted with strap hinges and 18th-century style door furniture, provide access.

Inside, the loft was removed in the 1930s, but slots for the original beam ends remain high in the walls. The barn holds 17 arch-braced trusses, with the end trusses close to the end walls. A distinctive method was used to seat the trusses onto the wall tops, possibly dating from the 1930s. The principal rafters rest directly on the wall tops, secured to a wallplate flush with the top of the wall, into which the feet of the arch braces are fixed. The trusses are bound with iron straps and incorporate four tiers of purlins, and a ridge-piece, the latter potentially from the 1930s. Some original rafters remain. Each porch's inner opening is spanned by a chamfered lintel with run-out stops. Two stone corbels are visible on the north side beneath the existing lintel. The 1930s tile floor is inlaid with a inscription commemorating the barn’s possible construction in the 12th century, and noting its use to house prisoners in 1588, following the capture of the Spanish vessel, Nuestra Señora del Rosano, part of the Spanish Armada, by Drake. The barn is considered a possible candidate for the earliest surviving barn in Devon. Photographic evidence suggests that the roof is a repair rather than a wholesale reconstruction of an earlier structure, as suggested by Nikolaus Pevsner.