Barn Approximately 40 Metres South West of Manor Farmhouse

Details

BURGHCLERE

186/7/28 OLD BURGHCLERE 18-MAY-1984 BARN APPROXIMATELY 40 METRES SOUTH WEST OF MANOR FARMHOUSE

GV I

Threshing Barn, 1451-53 for the Bishop of Winchester. MATERIALS: Timber-frame, chalk and brick plinth, tile roof, stone post pads. PLAN: Aisled barn approximately 40 metres (131 feet) in length, of eight bays with aisles. Opposing double-doors with threshing floors between at aisles three and six. Two gabled porches to south.

EXTERIOR: Faced in horizontal weatherboarding and corrugated sheeting above a plinth, part brick and part chalk. Large hipped tiled roof. Main south elevation has a pair of double-cart doors protected by gabled porches. Also ventilation casements and pedestrian plan doors. North elevation: a pair of double doors the most easterly of which is approached by a modern concrete ramp and further ventilation casements and pedestrian doors. West elevation: inserted modern roller shutter door to allow access to farm machinery. East elevation is blind.

INTERIOR: Eight bays with aisles. The third and sixth bays are the entrance bays with a threshing floor between. The timber frame comprises queen post trusses and pegged common and principle rafters. The aisle features passing braces to a timber base plate, and there are some surviving studs and jowelled wall posts. There are four tiers of tenoned purlins and curved wind braces, and the principle posts are slightly jowelled, with curved braces to the tie beam and the lower tier of purlins. The posts are supported on some original stone pads, where they survive, otherwise on brick or concrete pads or dwarf walls.

HISTORY: Manor Farm Barn has been dated by dendrochronology to the mid C15. A series of timber cores were taken from various parts of the frame which demonstrated that the timbers were felled in the winter of 1450/51 and the summer of 1451. Historical documentation survives which describes the building of a great barn at Old Burghclere for the Bishop of Winchester in 1451-53. The documents, curated by the Hampshire Record Office, describe the barn as being of eight bays with two porches. The price of a carpenter, a tiler for the roof and a mason to underpin the cills and posts are noted and there is considerable detail as to the costs and materials required to build the barn. These historical documents also indicate that the barn was always boarded on its exterior, that it was roofed in plain tiles and underpinned with chalk using a lime mortar. The various materials used all came from nearby Hampshire settlements: the freestone was brought by cart from Sydmonton; the shingles for the porch roofs came from Earlstone and Sandford, and the lime from East Woodhay. The documents also describe the numbers of nails, the numbers of tiles and that there were two new locks provided to secure the doors of the barn. The building has inevitably experienced some alterations since built particularly the replacement of the external weatherboarding but this is a common occurrence. Some of the pad stones, plinth and cills have also been replaced in brick and/or concrete. A C20 ramp now provides access to the north-eastern door and a large entrance with a roller shutter door has been cut into the west end of the barn, also in the C20, to allow access to modern farm machinery.

SOURCES: Burghclere 1451-2, Hampshire Record Office, reference: HRO 11M59/B1/188 Burghclere 1452-3, Hampshire Record Office, reference: HRO 11m59/B1/189 Miles & Worthington, 1999, in Vernacular Architecture 30, pp107-8 and list 101

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Manor Farm Barn is a mid C15 timber-framed barn on a massive scale, built for the Bishop of Winchester. It is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons * A medieval aisle barn with a substantially intact C15 timber-frame. * Some surviving original stonework and tiles * Associated C15 documentation describing the materials, craftsmen and construction of the building. * Group value with the Grade II* listed early C14 Old Burghclere Hall.

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