Rudgwick Barn and attached cow byres

Details

RUDGWICK
HOPE FARM
Rudgwick Barn and attached cow byres

II

Threshing barn with cow byres. Mid C16 barn, the southern end adapted in the early C18 to form cow byres, with attached cow byres dating from C18 to the south west.

MATERIALS: The barn is timber-framed, clad in weather boarding on a stone rubble plinth, partly replaced in brick and concrete, except for the south wall which is of regular coursed rubblestone blocks with red dressing, patched with some English bond brickwork. Hipped roof with gablets at each end, carried down to a low eaves above the single aisle on the west side, clad in C20 machine made clay tiles but earlier roof tiled or more probably thatched. The cow byres are also timber-framed, clad in a weatherboarding with hipped tiled roofs.

PLAN: Barn of five bays with a slightly shorter bay at the south end, aisled to the west. The cow byres are attached to the south end of the barn in a zigzag formation.

EXTERIOR: The west side of the barn has a central cart entrance with C20 ledged and braced double doors. The east side, which originally had the full-height cart entrance, has had this filled-in and replaced by a small C20 plank door. There is a further door to the extreme south. The north end has had a later fixed casement inserted without damaging the wall frame. The south end has a lean-to added probably in the early C18, the external wall rebuilt in regularly coursed and dressed small rubblestone blocks with red brick dressings above a rubblestone plinth. A section of this wall has later been rebuilt in English bond brickwork.

INTERIOR: The barn has upright posts and aisle posts which are jowled. The wall frame to the east side has a mid-rail with three studs between the wall-posts and curved braces above the midrail. The north end wall retains its original framing intact, apart from one replacement stud, and has a massive midrail with large curved braces to the corner and end aisle post. There is a centre wall post with studs morticed to the midrail on each side. The studwork beneath the wall-plate to the external west wall is mainly original to the north of the cart entrance but has been replaced in the south. The western aisle is supported on five aisle posts on padstones, all reused from an earlier structure, with slightly curved braces to the arcade plate. The internal south wall was modified in the early C18 when the southern end was adapted as a cow byre, but much of the original timber from this was reused, including curved braces. The roof structure has four full trusses as the southern end was truncated when it was converted into a cow byre. Each truss has curved braces from the wall-posts to the tie beams, mainly original, and all trusses except for the northern one have angled queen struts to the clasped purlins. All the rafters are original. The southern cattle byre has a weatherboarded north wall with some wide planks and wooden stall partition.

SUBSIDIARY BUILDINGS: The attached cow byres to the south west have wall frames with thin scantling, partitions with diagonal braces, roof structures including angled queen-struts and some wooden hay racks survive.

STATEMENT OF IMPORTANCE: A substantially intact mid C16 aisled timber-framed threshing barn, reusing earlier aisleposts, the southern bay adapted to form a cow byre in the early C18. Attached cow byres at the south end date from the C18. This structure is part of a good farm group.

End of official list entry

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