Down Barns

Down Barns is an isolated house and farmyard that includes a barn, stable, granary, and sheltershed, all enclosed by walls. It dates from the 19th century. The barn, located on the north side, is constructed of flint with brick quoins, featuring four course lacings and stepped gables. The sides are covered with weatherboarding on timber framing, and it has a slate roof. The barn consists of six bays, with a cartway through the third bay. It has tie beam and king post trusses with struts and single purlins. The roof extends to the west over a two-bay cartshed with a granary above. The cartshed is supported by cast iron columns and has an entry from the outside yard. The granary features an external stone staircase and a floor that is independently supported within the cartshed.

On the east side, there is a stable with four unequal bays and a loft above, constructed in a similar manner, with double doors to the yard, three windows, and a pitching door in the gable at the rear. To the south, there is an eight-bay sheltershed with a cob rear wall and a corrugated iron roof. The yard is enclosed by a flint wall with integral brick piers and tiled copings on the south side, which returns on the west as a cob wall also with tiled copings. This arrangement forms a traditional farm group from the early to mid-19th century.

To the south of the sheltershed, there is a former farmhouse, now in ruins, consisting of three bays with a one-bay extension to the south and a two-bay, two-storey block added later in the 19th century on the east side. The internal faces of the walls are made of poor-quality stone. Adjacent to the house is a steel windpump that is missing its fan and tail. The house and windpump are outside the yard and are not included in the group of special interest.