Barn at Winters Farm, Rettendon

Summary

A timber-framed barn with a fine collar purlin crown-post roof thought to date to the late C15 or early C16, with a wagon porch added in the C17. The building forms part of a small farmstead together with a farmhouse and cart lodge (neither of which is listed nor listable), and is depicted in a C18 map of the area.

Reasons for Designation

The barn at Winters Farm, Rettenden in Essex, a timber-framed farm building believed to date to the late C15 or early C16, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: the building is a well-preserved example of a late C15 or early C16 farm building. It provides important evidence of the nature and scale of farming practice in the region as well as documenting the way farm buildings were constructed at this time. Buildings which pre-date 1700 and which contain a significant proportion of their original fabric are strong candidates for designation;

* Architectural interest: the barn is an important example of the distinctive vernacular building traditions of its period in this area of Essex, a county noted for the quality, diversity and longevity of timber-framed construction. The barn's well-preserved collar purlin crown-post roof structure is of particular interest;

* Completeness: the barn appears to have suffered little significant alteration, and retains a high proportion of original fabric.

History

The farmstead known as Winters Farm on Buckhatch Lane in Rettendon is believed to date to the late C15 or early C16, with C19 and C20 additions and alterations. The farmhouse was remodelled in the early C21, at which time it and the adjacent barn were found to be of timber-framed construction of a form which suggested a late C15 or early C16 date for the buildings. The farmstead is shown on a map of 1777, on Buckhatch Lane, which then formed the south-eastern boundary of Rettendon Common.

The farmhouse had already been largely rebuilt c.1831 when much of its external walling was replaced in red brick, but the barn, although enveloped in later accretions, remained largely as originally constructed, together with its wagon porch, thought to have been added in the C17 or early C18. Lean-to structures have subsequently been added along the rear (north-west) wall of the barn, at its north-eastern and south-western end, and against the left-hand end bay of the south-east elevation. These are believed to have obscured rather than replaced early fabric.

Details

A timber-framed barn of probable late C15 or early C16 date, with a C17 or early-C18 wagon porch, forming part of a small farmstead of which the farmhouse and a later cart lodge also survive in much-altered form.

MATERIALS
The barn is formed of heavy-section timber-framing set upon a deep brick plinth, with external weatherboarding and a hipped roof with a red clay tile covering.

PLAN
The barn is aligned north-east to south-west, with a wagon porch to the south-west section of the south-east elevation, forming a roughly L-shaped footprint. The footprint is obscured by the later accretions around three sides of the building.

EXTERIOR
The barn is a four-bay structure with a hipped roof. There is an off-centre full-height wagon porch to the east elevation with a hipped roof and vertically-planked C20 double doors. Above the doorway is a multi-pane window and a small, single-light opening. The remaining parts of the external elevations are obscured by later, single-storey additions.

INTERIOR
The barn walls are formed of principal posts between which are closely-spaced vertical studs mortised into wall and sole plates. The wall framing is stiffened in various places by diagonal external tension braces. The posts have jowled heads which support substantial tie beams, some with angle bracing. The roof structure is of collar purlin, crown-post type, the crown posts being of square section with longtitudinal up-bracing supporting the purlin. The purlins support collar beams, each of which carries a pair of common rafters. The framing to the added wagon porch is of similar form to the barn framing, but formed from less substantial timbers and with some supplementary, C20 members to the opening within the barn wall framing.

End of official list entry

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