Late 19th century threshing barn, Hyde Farm, Gosfield Road (EHER 82056)

A late 19th century timber framed threshing barn with a midstrey projecting from the centre of its NW elevation. The timber frame is supported on a red brick plinth and is weatherboarded to the exterior. The roof is covered in corrugated asbestos sheets. Unusually, cartographic, documentary and structural evidence all suggest that the large five-bay threshing barn is a late addition to the farm complex. Further, it is unusual for the barn to have been built of purposely hand-sawn timber in this period, and as such the structure is probably a rare late example of this construction technique.

May 2019. Heritage assessment. A late 19th century timber framed threshing barn which is aligned NE-SW and with a midstrey projecting from the centre of its NW elevation. It measures 18.6m long by 10.7m wide, and has five bays. The timber frame is supported on a red brick plinth and is weatherboarded to the exterior. The roof is covered in corrugated asbestos sheets and has a half-hip at the NE and NW ends, but is gabled at the SW. Almost the entire roof of the barn, above the tie-beams, has been rebuilt and is constructed of modern machine-cut timber, nailed together. The barn would have originally been constructed for the processing and storage of a grain crop. The floor of the barn is modern concrete, although the central bay would have at one time had a threshing floor, possibly made of brick. The barn appears to have been constructed abutting two already standing structures; the extant six-bay building and a since demolished building to the South of unknown function. This accounts for the unusual arrangement of the Southern bays of the barn and the angled South elevation. A modern tie-beam has been inserted between bays 4 and 5, and there is no evidence of an original tie-beam in this location. The SW elevation of the barn has an entirely absent lower register, which may have originally formed the building to the South. It's subsequent demolition has probably contributed to the structural issues in the Southern bays. Unusually, cartographic, documentary and structural evidence all suggest that the large five-bay threshing barn is a late addition to the farm complex. It is clearly built off of the frame of the earlier six-bay structure and judging from its absence in the 1866 sales catalogue and its subsequent presence on the 1876 OS map, was constructed sometime in that ten year period. Further, it is unusual for the barn to have been built of purposely hand-sawn timber in this period, and as such the structure is probably a rare late example of this construction technique. <1>