Barn, Bays Court

This is an early 19th-century barn situated within a group with the adjacent house and stable. The barn is constructed primarily of thin, squared, coursed grey stone, with a slate roof. A smaller extension to the left is built of random rubble and has a tiled roof. The barn originally comprised four bays, with a three-bay extension added later. A wide opening, featuring a cambered brick-on-end arch, leads to a stone-paved threshing floor. A small slit air vent is located on the left side of the barn. To the right of the entrance is a boarded door, followed by a shuttered window. A single cambered arch crafted with red stone voussoirs once linked these features to the barn’s interior. Further along, a square, shuttered ground-floor window – lacking a lintel – is paired with a boarded door beneath a cambered brick arch. A stone staircase rises to a boarded door at the right-hand end, also set beneath a cambered brick arch. To the left sits a slightly lower two-storey wing; it has an opening facing the barn with a timber lintel, followed by a boarded door with a cambered brick arch, and slit air vents on either side. On the left return, stone steps lead to a boarded gable door with a flat timber lintel. Flanking it are nearly square windows with cambered brick arches, both boarded up. Above, in the gable, are four ledges with openings originally used for a dovecote. Internally, the threshing floor is stone-paved, and there is a gabled porch on the rear. The barn has an open left side, while the right-hand side is now completely lofted; it was probably originally just the end part that was lofted. A lower section of the barn served as a cider house, with the upper section likely functioning as a granary. The roof features tie beam trusses with angle struts, and some bolted collar trusses are positioned at half bays. The extension has king-post trusses with narrow bays, and one bay is boarded off to function as a dovecote.