Post-medieval threshing barn at Spaynes Hall, Cherry Lane, Great Yeldham (EHER 80316)

The cartographic evidence of Spaynes Hall proves the barn was built sometime between 1777 and 1842. The barn at Spaynes Hall was a part of a once busy farmstead; one that was expanded in size in the late Victorian period, reflecting the rising fortunes of English agriculture generally and this estate more specifically.

June 2021. Level 3 building survey. The cartographic evidence of Spaynes Hall proves the barn was built sometime between 1777 and 1842. The use of through-bracing in the barn’s frame is a hallmark of later framing techniques and is unlikely to have been used before the end of the 16th century. The large number of re-used timbers in the barn frame clearly suggest it was, at least partially, constructed using the remains of an earlier building or buildings. The barn would have originally been constructed for the processing and storage of a grain crop. The threshing barn is timber-framed structure, measuring 21.8m by 8.6m and covers an area of approximately 137m squared. The building has five bays and is covered in modern weatherboarding. The roof is covered in pan-tiles and gabled at both ends. The barn is supported on a plinth of red brick - the lower nine courses of brickwork are laid in Flemish-bond and bonded in lime mortar. The south-west elevation of the threshing barn has a large central opening with half of one vertical-planked door surviving. The roof of the barn is gabled consisting of pairs of rafters meeting at a ridgeboard, supported by two collars in the middle of each bay, which in turn support one clasped purlin on each roof pitch. There are Baltic timber marks visible on a rafter and stud on the south-west elevation of bay 2. There is also evidence of re-use on the corner-post and two studs. There are a number of carpenter's marks on the south-west elevation of bay 4, visible on the exterior due to the removal of the weatherboarding. Six of the studs have a ’XIIII’ chiselled on their south-western face. The western brace has a series of ‘III’ marks chiselled on the south-west face where it passes through each stud. Similarly, the eastern brace has a ‘IIII’ chiselled in the same fashion. The barn at Spaynes Hall was a part of a once busy farmstead; one that was expanded in size in the late Victorian period, reflecting the rising fortunes of English agriculture generally and this estate more specifically. <1>