The Folly

Summary

Barn and cattle shed with eye-catcher, now a residence. The north-west former barn range is of late C18 or early C19 date. The eye-catcher and attached cattle shed is probably mid C19, was certainly built by 1879 and may have been designed by George Cheeseman Senior (1789-1866) or George Cheeseman Junior (1814-82), most probably for Sir George Grantham of Barcombe Place.

Reasons for Designation

The Folly, Banks Farm, comprising a late C18 or early C19 flint and brick barn onto which a mid C19 flint and stone castellated sham castle has been attached, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: the barn is a good example of a pre-1840 five-bay threshing barn in local materials, and the eye-catcher is an interesting Gothic style sham castle masking functioning farm buildings;
* Intactness: despite recent residential conversion the architectural interest and authenticity of the barn have been retained and the sham castle has hardly altered since an 1890 photograph;
* Rarity: follies are a relatively rare building type and eye-catchers or sham castles even rarer;
* Group value: another farm building at Banks Farm is listed at Grade II.

History

The north-west part of the building is an C18 or early C19 barn at Banks Farm, which was in the ownership of Barcombe Place, and was possibly built by the Holroyd Family who sold Barcombe Place in 1839. A building in this position appears to be shown on the 1839 Tithe map and appears as '730 Farmyard' in the Tithe Apportionment.

In that year Barcombe Place was purchased by George Grantham (1782-1849), a prosperous coal merchant who was building up an extensive landed estate. His son, also George Grantham (1830-1880) took over the estate in 1864, extended the estate and acquired the lordship of the manor of Camoys Court in 1866. His younger brother, Sir William Grantham KC (1835-1911), became a High Court judge.

The castellated eye-catcher added on to the north-west end of the barn was erected by the elder George Grantham or his son George, most probably the latter. Its orientation facing south-west was designed to be seen from Barcombe Place. On the 1879 six inch Ordnance Survey map both barn and sham castle are shown subsumed into a rectangular range of farm buildings with a central yard divided into two.

A photograph of circa 1890 labelled Barcombe Castle shows both barn, sham castle and part of a single storey range further south-east of the castle.

The building was converted into residential accommodation in the early C21 and is now called 'The Folly'.

Details

Barn and cattle shed with eye-catcher, now a residence. The north-west former barn range is of late C18 or early C19 date. The attached eye-catcher with attached cattle shed is in Gothic style, probably mid C19, was certainly built by 1879 and may have been designed by George Cheeseman Senior (1789-1866) or George Cheeseman Junior (1814-82), most probably for the younger George Grantham of Barcombe Place.

MATERIALS: flint with red brick dressings and lacing courses with some stone quoins; also some brickwork. The roof is tiled.

PLAN: a five bay barn aligned north-east to south-west with an eye-catcher added onto its south-west end and a single storey former cattle shed of similar date facing south-east.

EXTERIOR: the south-west elevation has at the north end a tall castellated structure with a recessed centre decorated with three stone shields, and a central four-centred arch in Roman cement with shield corbels and a C21 glazed door. The projecting, flanking square corner towers have blocked arrow-slit windows on two floors. The return of the north tower also has arrow-slit windows. The north tower projects higher than the central part with a series of stone corbels. The south tower was lower and designed to appear ruined. Attached at the north end is a single storey stone building with a projecting north-west wall with stone quoins and an arrow-slit window. The south-west wall is built of stone with four stone buttresses and a wooden stable door and has a further single storey gabled stone projection towards the south-west end followed by a brick end in Sussex bond.

The north-west elevation consists mainly of the flint former barn with brick lacing course and quoins. There is a central cart entrance, now glazed, and two large brick arches, formerly blocked in brickwork, but now glazed.

The south-east side of the former barn is of flint with brick end quoins and two lacing courses. The central cart entrance is glazed. Three windows with brick surrounds have been incorporated into the lower part of the walls.

The north-east side of the single storey former cattle stalls is of red brick in English bond with a projecting early C21 porch at the northern end where there are three C21 windows and a stable door. The southern end has a stone gable and ends in red brick.

INTERIOR: the former barn has bay posts with a curved profile, the trusses have angled queen struts and collar beams and the roof has staggered purlins and a ridge-piece.

Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 ('the act') it is declared that the early C21 internal room partitioning and staircase are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Nicholas Antrim, , Nikolaus Pevsner, , Sussex East, (2012), 100
L F, Salzman, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7, The Rape of Lewes, (1940), 80-83

End of official list entry

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