Reasons for Designation
The farm complex to the east of Bromes House, Isle Abbotts is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* It is a substantially intact example of a timber-framed agricultural complex, which is rare in Somerset
* Most of the timber-framing is of good quality and displays vernacular building techniques in construction and use of carpentry
* It has strong group value with the Grade II* listed Bromes House with which it is historically and functionally related.
Details
ISLE ABBOTTS
1596/0/10002 BROMES LANE
03-DEC-09 Farm Complex, East of Bromes House
GV II
Farm complex, incorporating barn and shelter shed. C18 date with a later outshut to the south side of the barn.
MATERIALS: Timber-framed on coursed and squared Blue Lias footings, with clapboarded coverings. The west gable end of the barn is of masonry. The roofs are clad in corrugated sheeting, except for the west half of the south range which has double Roman tiles, and were previously thatched.
PLAN: The attached buildings form three sides of a U-shaped yard; a further farm building (now part of Bromes House) although detached from the other agricultural buildings defines the west side. The complex consists of a large threshing barn to the north; a shelter shed on the east side; and a multi-purpose range to the south.
EXTERIOR: The BARN is rectangular on plan, with a half-hipped roof, and is of six bays. It appears to contain substantially intact C18 pegged and jointed wall-framing of substantial scantling, with surviving wall posts, wall plate, tie beams and some studwork. The main elevation, to the south, has an outshut along the whole of its length which has clapboard walling with a ten-light window to the centre (greenhouse) and double-doored garage opening to the left. At the western end of the south elevation, between the barn and the outshut, is a horizontal chamfered beam with runout stops, which supports the roof to the outshut. The west gable end is largely of coursed Blue lias rubble with weatherboarding to its upper section. The plinth to the north elevation has been repaired in places with concrete blockwork. There are opposing entrances with double doors in the north and south elevations, though those to the south side have been replaced with a single plank with strap hinges and additional clapboarding, though the door frame remains in situ. The SHELTER SHED is a long, low single storey range. Its west elevation is open-fronted and here the roof is supported on equally-spaced timber upright posts that rest on stone pads. The SOUTH RANGE is also single storey and may have been used in part as a shelter shed and for other agricultural purposes. A later addition has been built against part of the south side of this range and is not of interest.
INTERIOR: The interior of the barn is divided into two by a stud partition wall, and both sections are open to the roof. The stud wall is clapboarded, but stone pillars have been introduced to support the tie beam. In addition, a raised floor has been inserted within part of the eastern half of the building. The roof structure is based on five trusses formed from tie beams and collared principal rafters, with two rows of staggered butt purlins, and it is all pegged. The roof carpentry of both the shelter shed and the south range is similar to that of the barn and consists of principal trusses with tie beams and single rows of staggered butt purlins.
HISTORY: These farm buildings form a cogent group with Bromes House, a former farmhouse with medieval origins that was altered and restored in the early C17. They are depicted on the 1841 Tithe map and their footprint has not changed since then.
SOURCES: Tithe Map (1841), Somerset Record Office
E.H.D. Williams, Bromes Farmhouse, Isle Abbotts (1990), Somerset Vernacular Architecture Group
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The farm complex to the east of Bromes House, Isle Abbotts is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* It is a substantially intact example of a timber-framed agricultural complex, which is rare in Somerset
* Most of the timber-framing is of good quality and displays vernacular building techniques in construction and use of carpentry
* It has strong group value with the Grade II* listed Bromes House with which it is historically and functionally related
