Barn At 5 Pirnhow Street

Barn, dating from about 1700. The building is timber-framed and clad with clapboard, covered by a roof of black pantiles. The plan consists of three main bays, with a further pair of smaller bays corresponding to the hips, and the northern bay was originally designed as a stable. Later lean-to additions are located to the rear (northeast).

The barn has a central cart entrance facing the road, alongside a smaller doorway. The northern, stable end sits on a higher brick plinth, approximately one metre high, with a wide doorway giving access to the road. Elsewhere, the wooden sills rest on a much lower plinth. Some areas of the lower walls have been covered with cement rendering.

Inside, the barn features substantial mortised arch braces connecting the tie beams to the corner posts and wall plates, and gable end ties linking the principal posts to the wall plates. The northernmost bay has been divided off to create a stable, with a low brick wall and a brick-paved floor at a higher level. A threshing floor made of bricks laid on their edges is located between the doors. The roof has a single set of staggered butt purlins with straight wind bracing. There are mortised collars to the principal trusses and principal rafters, which define the hipped ends, and small collars near the ridge to support the hip ridges. The ridge pieces are plain boards in the central bay, but triangular in the side bays. Two bladed scarf joints are visible in the southern wall plate.

The barn has undergone very little alteration since its construction. The stable was possibly part of the original design, which is typical of timber-framed buildings in Suffolk. The rear lean-tos would have provided shelter for carts or animals and were added later, possibly when milking cows were important and a dairy was added to the main house in the 19th century.

This is a fine, relatively unaltered example of a timber-framed barn with an integrated stable, exhibiting unusual features dating from about 1700, making it contemporary with the main house. It, like the house, demonstrates exceptional quality for its size and date, with extensive bracing and accurately constructed half hips, which are rare in Norfolk. The low-level sills and the treatment of the ridge pieces are also noteworthy. The similarity in roof construction between the barn and the house suggests they were built around the same time. Together they form a valuable and unusual farmstead group.