Farm Complex, East Of Bromes House

Farm Complex, East of Bromes House

This is a farm complex incorporating a barn and shelter shed, located near Isle Abbotts. It dates to the 18th century, with a later outshut added to the south side of the barn.

The complex is timber-framed, built on coursed and squared Blue Lias footings with clapboarded coverings. The west gable end of the barn is of masonry. The roofs are clad in corrugated sheeting, except for the west half of the south range which retains double Roman tiles; these were previously thatched.

The attached buildings form three sides of a U-shaped yard, with a further farm building (now part of Bromes House) detached from the other agricultural buildings defining the west side. The complex consists of a large threshing barn to the north, a shelter shed on the east side, and a multi-purpose range to the south.

The barn is rectangular on plan with a half-hipped roof and is of six bays. It contains substantially intact 18th-century pegged and jointed wall-framing of substantial scantling, with surviving wall posts, wall plate, tie beams and some studwork. The main elevation to the south has an outshut along its whole length with clapboard walling, a ten-light window to the centre (greenhouse) and double-doored garage opening to the left. At the western end of the south elevation, between the barn and the outshut, is a horizontal chamfered beam with run-out stops, which supports the roof to the outshut. The west gable end is largely of coursed Blue Lias rubble with weatherboarding to its upper section. The plinth to the north elevation has been repaired in places with concrete blockwork. There are opposing entrances with double doors in the north and south elevations, though those to the south side have been replaced with a single plank with strap hinges and additional clapboarding, with the door frame remaining in situ.

The shelter shed is a long, low single-storey range. Its west elevation is open-fronted, with the roof supported on equally-spaced timber upright posts that rest on stone pads.

The south range is also single-storey and may have been used in part as a shelter shed and for other agricultural purposes. A later addition has been built against part of the south side of this range.

Internally, the barn is divided into two by a stud partition wall, with both sections open to the roof. The stud wall is clapboarded, but stone pillars have been introduced to support the tie beam. A raised floor has been inserted within part of the eastern half of the building. The roof structure is based on five trusses formed from tie beams and collared principal rafters with two rows of staggered butt purlins, all pegged. The roof carpentry of both the shelter shed and the south range is similar to that of the barn, consisting of principal trusses with tie beams and single rows of staggered butt purlins.

These farm buildings form a cogent group with Bromes House, a former farmhouse with medieval origins that was altered and restored in the early 17th century. They are depicted on the 1841 Tithe map and their footprint has not changed since then.