19th to early 20th century barns at Woodham Lodge, Woodham Ferrers (EHER 80866)

A collection of 19th to early 20th century farm barns, that have mostly since been demolished.

February 2012. Building survey. The house is a Grade II listed building of 17th century date and is illustrated on the Chapman and Andre map of 1777. It is not clear from this map whether the farm was in existence at this time, or just the Lodge and its outbuildings. As none of the earlier buildings on the site, as shown on the sale plan of 1847, have survived, this point cannot be clarified in the context of the present study. The later cartographic evidence shows the evolving shape of the farmyard from 1847, when it was roughly triangular in shape, and bounded by farm buildings. The earliest surviving structure on the site is Barn 2, which is shown as two smaller separate barns on the 1847 plan, being described in the accompanying sale catalogue as wheat and oat barns. The midstreys in the eastern elevations and their opposing openings in the western elevations, together with the split barn doors, indicate that the barns were intended for threshing. They are of industrial style, constructed of softwood – possibly Baltic pine, probably dating to the second quarter of the 19th century. By 1853, following the sale of the site, the two individual barns had been linked together by three further bays, and other additions made to the enlarged structure, including an extension to the northern end of the western elevation. This might be seen as the first stage of the reorganisation of the farm following industrial principles, which saw the demolition of all the other farm buildings on the site, and the construction of a series of new buildings defining two new farmyards to the west of Barn 2. This work had been completed by 1873, and is represented by Barn 1, which, alone, survives from this phase. A further reorganisation of the farm took place in the first quarter of the 20th century, with the introduction of buildings in both the northern and southern farmyards. Barns 3 and 4 are unlikely to be exactly contemporary, given the differences in the quality of their roof structures: Barn 3 having good quality industrial trusses, of late 19th or early 20th century date, while the scrappy narrow pieces of wood used in the roof of Barn 4 suggest a wartime or post-WWI date. The buildings that form the basis for the present study, together with the cartographic and documentary research, demonstrate the evolution of Woodham Lodge Farm from the first half of the 19th century onwards. Barn 2 is the earliest surviving structure, its northern and southern ends probably dating to the second quarter of the 19th century. Barn 1 was built in the period between 1853 and 1873 and marks the reorganisation of the farmyard following industrial principles, while Barn 3 dates to the turn of the 20th century, and Barn 4 is likely to have been built either during WWI or just after, when good quality materials were in short supply. <1>