Abbey Barn

Abbey Barn, formerly listed as Tithe Barn, is a barn dating from around 1420, located on Preston Road in Yeovil. It is now used as a building contractors showroom and store. The barn is built from local stone that is squared and tooled, and it features a stone tiled roof set between coped gables. The structure consists of 10 bays, which are marked by double offset buttresses and projecting porches on the north and south sides. The ends of the barn have both centre and diagonal buttresses. The porches include diagonal buttresses and have high double doors along with wicket entrances set in two centre arches that are double chamfered without capitals or abaci. Each bay has long unglazed slit windows. There is a plinth at the base of all walls and finials on the gables. A later Tudor door has been added in the southwest corner.

The interior of the barn is largely obscured by an independent structure erected for its current use, but the roof is still visible. The roof features raised cruck trusses that are morticed and tenoned at the apex, with additional trusses at the gable ends. This design includes a form of jointed cruck with four rows of trenched purlins, the lowest of which is almost at the head of the wall. The walls are topped with well-cut stone, and the rafters end clear of the wall. There are curved windbraces in the two lower panels, and the frame is made of oak and elm, although the rafters are modern. The roof was slightly damaged by a bomb in 1940. At 31.4 metres in length, Abbey Barn is the longest barn in Somerset. It is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument.