Threshing Barn at Manor Farm

Reasons for Designation

The threshing barn at Manor Farm is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is a rare surviving example of a pre-Agricultural Revolution farm building * It is a well preserved example of pre-1840 vernacular architecture * It has additional group value with the three storey farm building immediately to the north and the Grade II listed Thorpe Manor as part of the former manorial home farm.

Details

THORPE AUDLIN

1497/0/10010 WATCHIT HOLE LANE 13-NOV-08 THRESHING BARN AT MANOR FARM

GV II

Threshing barn, pre-Agricultural Revolution, probably early C18.

MATERIALS Coursed squared limestone rubble, stone slate roof. Massive hewn timber lintel to cart opening, limestone lintels to other openings.

PLAN The threshing barn is orientated east west with a central cart entry in the north wall and a smaller winnowing door central to the south wall with a second smaller door further to the west. The western third of the building has an upper floor. A single storey outbuilding with a lean-to roof is attached to the west gable. Modern structures extending to the south of the building are not of special interest and are not included in the listing.

EXTERIOR North wall: Central cart entrance with quoined jambs supporting a substantial hewn timber lintel. Doors are modern replacements that are not of special interest. Arrow slit ventilation slits to both ground and first floor levels. The north wall of the lean-to, which is slightly set back, also has a (much smaller) cart entrance.

South wall: Central, broad, winnowing door with quioned jambs and stone lintel. Plank door, probably C19 or later, on strap hinges. To the west (left) there is a second, narrower doorway which also has quioned jambs. To the east there is a small ground level inserted, but now blocked opening thought to have been for a drive shaft for a threshing machine. Above at first floor level there are two small windows roughly equally spaced along the elevation.

Gable ends: The east gable has a small high level window. The west gable has two ventilation slits, one at first floor, the other at attic level.

INTERIOR At the time of the inspection the east end of the barn was occupied by a grain silo and the west end by an electric powered floor mill, neither of which is of special interest. The west end of the building has a replacement upper floor. The roof structure is exposed and has a series of metal pinned king strut roof trusses that support staggered trenched purlins that are pegged. Spanning between the roof trusses are two redundant line shafts with belt wheels.

HISTORY Manor Farm is believed to have originally been the home farm of Thorpe Manor and until the late C19 may have been directly managed from the manor house which lies just over 50m to the north west. This is because the house now known as Manor Farmhouse immediately to the west is not shown on the 1893 Ordnance Survey map, but was built by the next edition published in 1906. Thorpe Manor, which is listed grade II, may be pre-C16 in origin, but was remodelled and enlarged in the C17 with further alterations in the C19. The two earliest surviving buildings at Manor Farm (the threshing barn and the three storey farm building) are of a type that is difficult to date. They may originate from shortly after the C17 enlargement of the hall, possibly as the result of improvements instigated by a change in ownership, but may be as late as, for example, 1814 which is the date that Thorpe Audlin's openfield system was enclosed - enclosure of former openfields typically prompted the construction of new farm buildings. However their form and details of construction suggest that they date to before the introduction of ideas developed during the late C18 Agricultural Revolution. This includes the scale and style of the timber lintel for the cart opening and the lack of a corresponding cart opening in the south wall. Although the winnowing door in the south wall would have provided a cross draft for hand threshing of corn in the centre of the barn, it would not have been large enough to allow carts to pass through the building as became more typical with the improved farming practices developed and disseminated by the Agricultural Revolution in the later C18. The roof structure (with the use of metal work and sawn timbers) appears to be a later replacement, but it is still likely to be early C19 rather than late C19 in date.

ASSOCIATED LISTED BUILDINGS Three storey multifunctional farm building immediately to the north and Thorpe Manor to the north west.

SOURCE "The Enclosure Maps of England and Wales 1595-1918" Kain et al 2004

REASON FOR DESIGNATION The threshing barn at Manor Farm is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is a rare surviving example of a pre-Agricultural Revolution farm building * It is a well preserved example of pre-1840 vernacular architecture * It has additional group value with the three storey farm building immediately to the north and the Grade II listed Thorpe Manor as part of the former manorial home farm.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

505418

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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