Barn and outbuilding at the Three Horseshoes Public House

Summary

Barn and attached outbuilding. Probably early-C18 in date with the outbuilding added slightly later. The southern wall of the barn was rebuilt in 1981.

Reasons for Designation

The barn and attached outbuilding at the Three Horseshoes public house, Towersey, probably of C18 date, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a rare surviving example of an C18 witchert-built barn, with its attached, probably slightly later outbuilding, which is still legible as a threshing barn and retains a significant proportion of original fabric;

* as part of an important regional tradition of earth-built structures.

Historic interest:

* as the original venue for the Towersey Folk Festival, an early example of an annual folk music festival, which sheds light on an important social trend from the early 1960s.

History

The Three Horseshoes public house was probably originally a farmhouse and is likely to be of late-C17 or possibly early-C18 date, although it may be earlier. It had become a public house by at least 1847 when it appears in a post office directory, with W Abbott as landlord, but may have operated as a pub earlier than this.

The barn and attached outbuilding, possibly originally a cattle shed, appears on its current footprint in the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1881 but the barn is likely to be of late-C17 or, perhaps more probably, early-C18 date with the outbuilding probably added slightly later.

In 1965 the barn was used as the venue for the first Towersey Folk Festival, a relatively early example of a locally organised folk festival which grew to be one of the largest in the country, although it is now held in nearby Thame. The south end-wall of the barn reportedly collapsed during the winter of 1981 and was subsequently rebuilt.

Details

Barn and attached outbuilding. Probably early-C18 in date with the outbuilding added slightly later. The southern wall of the barn was rebuilt in 1981.

MATERIALS: whitewashed and rendered witchert walling over a stone-rubble plinth with pitched slate-covered roofs. The rebuilt southern wall of the barn is probably of rendered brick or concrete block.

PLAN: rectangular barn of three bays, located to the south-west of the pub, orientated north-south with a lower rectangular, two bay, outbuilding, possibly originally a cattle shed or cart shed, orientated east-west and attached to the southern part of the barn’s east elevation. The barn has opposed doors in the long sides and the outbuilding has two double-doors in the north elevation.

EXTERIOR: the west elevation has an off-centre cart entrance with modern ship-lap panel infill and door. The entrance has a timber lintel and ears. There are two irregular rows of three narrow slit windows. The eaves overhang slightly with exposed machine-cut rafter ends. The eastern elevation has a larger, full-height, cart entrance, also with modern ship-lap panel infill and door, and two slit windows. The northern gable end has three slit windows, arranged one-over-two, and narrow bargeboards with the ends of the purlins exposed. The southern gable end is blind.

The north elevation of the outbuilding is timber-framed with waney-edge weatherboarding and end piers of brick. There are two entrances with C20 double-doors, those to the west having glazed transoms. The south and east elevations are blind, of rendered witchert on deep stone-rubble plinths.

INTERIOR: the interior of the barn has a C20 plasterboard ceiling so that the only parts of the roof structure visible are the two tie beams. These are hand-cut with crude chamfers. The survival of the other principal members of the roof structure are therefore unknown, although the external evidence of machine-cut rafters and purlins suggest that there has been at least partial re-roofing. There are exposed timber lintels to both the full-height eastern barn doorway and lower western doorway. Both doorways have reinforcing piers projecting into the interior. These are plastered but are possibly of brick construction. The walls are plastered and whitewashed above the exposed stone plinth.

The slit-windows have chamfered reveals with C20 interior glazing of six-light leaded windows in timber casements with segmental arched frames. As well as the external windows there are two windows through to the western end of the outbuilding. Other fittings, including a C21 bar counter at the northern end, are modern.

The outbuilding has a king-post roof with raking struts and ridge. Apart from the chamfered tie beam, wall posts, elements of the wall-plates and one or two rafters, the rest of the roof is of later machine-cut timber, probably C20 in date, as are the studs to the north wall. The remaining walls are of exposed witchert. The building is divided in half by a screen of uneven elm or oak planks attached to the tie beam.

Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the bar counter and associated cupboards, appliances and preparation surfaces at the north end of the barn are not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.

Sources

Other
Roper-Pressdee Heritage Ltd, The Three Horseshoes, Towersey, Thame: Heritage Statement (July 2020)

End of official list entry

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