Home Barn at Wilton Farm

Home Barn at Wilton Farm

This is an aisled barn dating from the 17th or 18th century. The building comprises a substantial timber frame partially resting on a rubble and brick plinth. It is largely clad in weatherboard, though sections of the north and south walls have been reconstructed in brick or clad in corrugated metal. The main roof and those of the porches are covered in clay peg tiles. A lean-to structure is attached to the south-western corner, constructed of timber-frame with weatherboard cladding partially on a brick plinth and a sheet metal roof.

The barn is arranged in six bays running east to west, positioned on a largely rectangular footprint. The four western bays are currently in use as a retail premises and retain much of the original barn layout. The two eastern bays have been subdivided as a separate self-contained office use with its own entrance. Porches project from each side of the barn. A single-storey timber-framed lean-to structure is attached to the south-western corner and is accessed both externally and through an opening in the south wall of the second bay.

On the southern elevation, a large catslide gabled roof extends the full length of the barn. A 20th century single-storey lean-to extension spans bays one to three, resting on the red brick walls of an earlier external walled enclosure. A full-height gabled porch projects from the fourth bay. The southern wall to bays five and six was reconstructed in the early 21st century in red brick with flint infill panels, featuring a pair of modern windows flanking a centrally positioned glazed door.

At each end of the barn are full-height weatherboarded gables. The west end sits on a low rubble and brick plinth. Wide timber mullioned window openings are positioned high within each gable.

The north elevation includes two full-height gabled porches at bays two and four. The catslide roof is limited to bays one and five, with bay six having a corresponding eaves level to that of the porch, and bay three slightly lower. The exterior walls of bays three and five are constructed in red brick; bay six is clad in corrugated metal sheeting. The brick wall to bay three contains a centrally positioned 20th century fixed-light window. A red brick wall projects north in-line with the western end wall, probably dating from the 20th century, though its original function is unknown.

All three porches are clad in weatherboard and contain large central openings for cart access. The southern porch retains its tall timber doors and strap hinges, though the right-hand door has been altered to incorporate a smaller pedestrian door. The openings to the northern porches have been boarded over. Each porch gable contains a centrally positioned timber mullion window opening over the doorway.

The interior faces of the main walls vary in their construction and finish. Bays one to three of the southern wall are constructed in red brick laid in an irregular bond, with a doorway in bay two leading through to the 20th century lean-to. Both gable walls and the northern wall to bays one and six are timber-framed with plasterboard infill panels applied over, obscuring the scantling. Plasterboard has also been applied to the inner face of the porch opening in bay two.

The interior space to bays one to four has been altered to facilitate its current retail use, with partitioning added to create a small office area in the northern part of bay three and for storage and staff facilities within the first-floor level of the southern porch. Bays five and six were subdivided in the early 21st century by a full-height blockwork and plasterboard partition wall. These bays contain a first floor fitted out for office use, with three main rooms on the ground floor, a large single room on the first floor, and a staircase between. The rooms are finished in plasterboard around the timber frame.

The timber frame comprises tall queen-post roof trusses on substantial jowled arcade posts with mostly straight braces supporting arcade plates. The queen posts consist of a combination of straight posts and raked posts with collars. The roof is formed by common rafters pegged together at the ridge, clasped purlins, and mostly straight wind braces. The upper rafters terminate at the arcade plate, with a lower separate staggered set with corresponding purlins supported on eaves-height braces for the lower portion of the catslide roof.

The porches comprise their own queen-post roof truss with raking struts resting on wall plates supported by the main arcade posts. The roof is formed by common rafters pegged at the ridge, clasped purlins, and wind braces. Smaller sized scantling is used in the upper sections of the gables to both the porches and the main barn.

Throughout, the timber frame has been subject to alteration, adaptation, replacement, and repair. Numbered carpenter's marks are visible on many of the trusses, though they do not appear to run in a full sequence, and reused timbers have been incorporated in many places. Structural repairs have been made to the northern exterior wall to bay three, where the lower set of rafters from the arcade plate have been replaced, along with the wall plate, which is now in steel. Structural repairs have been undertaken to the north-eastern porch, with the eastern wall constructed in blockwork and some steel structural supports added. Timber structural bracing has also been added to the southern section of bays five and six.

The roof covering appears to have been replaced, including new battens, in the late 20th to early 21st century, and much of the floor has been covered over with a planked timber floor at around the same time. Some fixed farm equipment, reputed to be a threshing machine, remains within the first-floor area of the southern porch, now embedded within the partition wall between bays four and five.