18th century timber framed barn, The Church Barn, Shalford Hall Farm, Shalford (EHER 80296)

The Church Barn is an 18th century seven-bay timber framed barn, with a central midstrey projecting from the SE elevation. It is weatherboarded to the lower portion of the framing with wattle and daub render above, now covered by modern render. Plank cladding in bays 1-3 and the remains of a hay rack indicate the barn may have been converted from a threshing barn to house livestock at some point.

March 1986. Grade II listed. The Church Barn is curtilage listed under The Grain Barn. July 2015. Heritage assessment. The Church Barn is a rectangular timber framed building, 26.6m long by 5.77m wide, aligned NE-SW, with a central midstrey projecting from the SE elevation. The barn sits upon a plinth of red brick. The exterior appears to have been weatherboarded to the lower portion of the framing with wattle and daub render above, although this has survived in only a few locations and has subsequently been covered by a modern render. The NE elevation is an exception: the gable is completely clad in weatherboard with an inserted window and a pitching door below the apex. Below the window the wall has been completely replaced with two large doors formed from corrugated iron sheeting, installed to allow farm machinery to be parked in the barn. The interior of the Church Barn is divided into seven bays, three roughly equal-sized bays to either side of the midstrey bay which is much wider. Bays 1-3 have been converted to a cart lodge by the removal of the lower registers of the SE wall. The NW wall of bays 1-3 has plank cladding to a height of about 1.3m and in the corner of bay 1 there are the remains of a hay rack: indicating that these bays were, at some point, used to house livestock. Dividing walls have been inserted between bays 3-4 and bays 4-5. The Church Barn was designed and constructed (along with the Grain Barn) for the specific purpose of processing and storing the grain harvest of Shalford Hall. The sheaves were unloaded and stacked in the bays to one side of the threshing floor and the cart driven out of the barn through the opposite barn doors. However, as the Church Barn was built up against the graveyard wall of St Andrew’s this was not possible and the carts were either backed out or turned. This may account for the increased width of the midstrey bay. The 18th century is considered the most likely date for the construction of both barns because of the cartographic evidence and architectural details. <1>