Agricultural Complex at Plas Chambres

This is an agricultural and service complex built around a small farmyard. The farmyard is on a lower level than the service court, with the northeastern wall of the service court acting as a retaining wall and a visual and physical barrier between the house court and the farmyard. The complex is comprised of a large primary barn projecting at right angles to the service court, with a stable range adjoining it at right angles. This stable range forms part of the southwestern boundary of the service court (the upper side) and faces the farmyard on the northeastern (lower) side. A contemporary or near-contemporary byre addition is attached at right angles to the northwest of the barn, with a later single-bay addition to the southeast (these two forming a T-shaped plan with the main barn range). A similar addition to the southeast end of the stable block projects northeastwards, enclosing the yard on its southeastern side.

The construction is of rubble with a timber-framed core to the three original sections. The roofs are medium-steep and slated throughout, except for the barn and the stable block addition, which have modern green corrugated sheeting. Gable parapets are finished with stone copings and quadrant kneelers. The barn has a large through-passage to bay 5, with some early brick infilling above the lintels; a boarded loading bay is visible on the gable facing the house. There are vent slits and a corrugated iron lean-to on the west side. The byre section has two entrances with 19th-century brick cambered heads, and vent slits arranged in three tiers on the gable end. The stable block, on the outer court elevation, has a boarded door with frame to the left, a loading bay in the center that breaks the eaves within a gabled dormer, and a further boarded and framed door with flanking windows to the right. These flanking windows are fragmentary late 17th-century wooden cross-windows, although the one on the left has lost its mullion and transom. Two square framed loft windows are above, contained within gabled dormers. Stable doors are on the lower, farmyard side. The southeast stable extension has two tiers of vent slits facing the lane and a framed loading bay on its upper gable.

A rubble wall, approximately 2 meters high, runs adjoining the courtyard-facing gable end of the barn, defining the outer court on the farmyard side. This wall runs toward the house and terminates a few feet short of the right-hand forecourt wall of the main house.

The main barn consists of seven bays, each truss having wall posts braced to tie beams, with collar and struts in a Queen Post arrangement above, along with primary purlins. The stable block has six bays and also displays a visible timber-framed structure, including partition trusses (now open) and evidence of a former loft. A flight of stone steps descends to the lower ground level from the left courtyard entrance. The byre section has three and a half bays and includes braced tie beams with struts.