Barn at Manor Farm

Details

CUXHAM WITH EASINGTON

1696/0/10006 EASINGTON 30-AUG-07 Barn at Manor Farm

GV II Timber-framed barn, possibly C18, with some late C20 renewal.

MATERIALS: The frame is of oak and probably elm; the timber weatherboarding was renewed c1990, which is also the date of the corrugated tin roof. The brick plinth has been partly replaced with blockwork.

EXTERIOR: The barn is timber framed, of four bays, with a cart bay projecting forward from the third bay from the left (as seen from the west, farmyard side). There is no rear cart entrance, although there is a pedestrian door which may have provided a modest cross-draught for threshing if the barn was used for cereal storage and processing. The main ground sill is underpinned with brick, partly replaced, especially to the left, by blockwork. The weatherboarding was replaced about 15 years ago, and the roof was clad in corrugated iron at the same time. The main trusses have slight jowels to the main posts which support tie beams. These tie beams are only lightly squared and retain much bark; this suggests they are probably of elm, whereas the rest of the timber is apparently mainly oak. The queen post variant roof has principal rafters which are lightly braced with collar plates and angle braces, common rafters and twin purlins; many timbers are waney and retain bark. Some lathes were left in situ when the roof covering was replaced; their regular spacing suggests the previous roof covering was of tile. The side walls have narrow, fairly closely-spaced studs with long angle braces running from wall plate to ground-floor sill. Many of these studs and braces were replaced in the C20. No trace of a threshing floor was visible.

HISTORY: Easington lies in the country between the Chilterns and the River Thame, 'an area of small, rounded hills, large fields and many small streams' (P D A Harvey, Cuxham (1965), 1). Easington itself is a 'hamlet in the fields at the end of a cul-de-sac' (N Pevsner & J Sherwood, Buildings of England: Oxfordshire). Property boundaries shown on later C19 Ordnance Survey maps suggest that the barn was one of the farm buildings associated with, and loosely grouped behind, Manor Farm. With the exception of the building under consideration these were cleared in the second half of the C20 and replaced by the large modern sheds in use today. Manor Farm farmhouse itself dates from the C16 and later, and standing as it does close to Easington's medieval parish church may well represent the medieval manorial site.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The barn at Manor Farm, Easington, is listed for the following principal reasons: * As a post-medieval, seemingly C18, timber-framed barn of strong vernacular character which retains the majority of its principal timbers. * For group value as an agricultural building which stands close to its listed farmhouse and fairly close to the hamlet's Grade II* listed church.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

503847

Legacy System:

LBS

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