Barn Adjacent to the Folly

Details

WOODCOTE

472/0/10021 SOUTH STOKE ROAD 31-JUL-06 Barn adjacent to The Folly

GV II Mid-late C18 timber-framed barn, with possible re-used posts. MATERIALS: Flint and brick dwarf wall supporting a timber-framed structure clad with colour-washed weatherboarded walls and with a plain red tile roof. PLAN: Rectangular, but with the rear corner closest to the house heavily angled to facilitate vehicular access to the small yard to its rear. A later, weatherboarded shed attached to left front of the barn, and a small weatherboarded stable, tackroom and gighouse attached to its rear are of lesser interest.

EXTERIOR: The metre-high foundation wall is of unknapped flint with red brick corners and two top levelling courses. To the rear one section, probably rebuilt, is of brick only. The roof is half-hipped to the left (viewed from the front) with a full hip to the right. Iron weathervane to centre with N-S-E-W vanes. Access to the barn is via tall, opposed double doors (doors themselves modern replacements) to the centre of the front and rear side walls. There is also a single back door to the rear left.

INTERIOR: Four bays, with queen-post variant roof. Only the main posts (with jowels and arched braces to tie beam) and tie beams of the three light, main, trusses and a few other members are of worked timber; most components including the upper parts of the queen-post trusses, braces, purlins (set on queen-post collars), rafters and wall studs are of split trunks and branches. The end bay nearest the house, entered via the back door, is clad with vertical boards. A loft floor has been inserted at first-floor level, supported by two poles strapped to the tie beam above. The opposite end bay has a brick wall to the rear where the gig house abuts the barn.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The low brick and flint property boundary wall to the front of the barn, returning to abut its front-left corner, is of a similar character to the barn's dwarf foundation wall. A gateway in the wall gives access to the barn's front double door.

HISTORY: Woodcote is a hill-top village at the southern end of the Chilterns, supposedly originating as scattered cottages around a common in the beech woods. The Folly, a Regency villa, is believed to have been built in the earlier C19 by the Fergusons, Reading brewers. It clearly incorporates older fabric and the associated barn, which seems to appear on Davis's map of 1797, was presumably part of a small farm on the site.

SOURCES: Davis's Map of Oxfordshire (1797)

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: Agricultural buildings which date from before the mid C19 are important because along with vernacular domestic buildings they can contribute markedly to the character and identity of an area as well as being reminders of past farming regimes. The mid C18 barn to one side of The Folly (Grade II) is a very good and little-altered example of the local vernacular style, with a superstructure of relatively light scantling wood and timber set on a brick-and-flint plinth wall. It forms a group with The Folly and the listed parish church opposite, and standing close to the road makes a valuable contribution to the character of the village.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

496386

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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