Late 18th to early 19th century timber framed threshing barn, Spital Farm, Station Road (EHER 81068)

A late 18th century three-bay timber framed threshing barn with midstrey projecting to the North. To the East and West the barn has been extended with two four-bay buildings (EHER 81069 and EHER 81070), the Easternmost of which abuts a six-bay N-S oriented structure (EHER 81071) to form an L-shaped complex.

November 2023. Heritage assessment. A three-bay threshing barn, with a midstrey projecting to the North. To the East and West the barn has been extended with two four-bay buildings (EHER 81069 and EHER 81070), the Easternmost of which abuts a six-bay N-S oriented structure (EHER 81071) to form an L-shaped complex. Two lean-tos are built against the Northern elevation of the threshing barn. That to the West (lean-to 1), also runs along the Northern elevation of the four-bay building and is a modern construction. The barn is of timber framed construction, supported on a red brick plinth. The roof is gabled at both ends, as is the roof of the midstrey, and both are clad in corrugated metal sheeting. Adjacent to the midstrey, the roof of the barn has a catslide which covers the Western lean-to (lean-to 1). All elevations of the buildings are clad in weatherboarding. All doors are vertically-planked. The midstrey projects from the Northern elevation of the threshing barn, between lean-to 1 and 2. The Northern elevation of the midstrey is dominated by a large opening which would have originally housed a set of double barn doors. To the West of the midstrey, lean-to 1 is open fronted and supported on five posts made from reused telegraph poles. To the East, lean-to 2 is covered in plain weatherboarding and has its own low-angle mono-pitched roof clad in metal sheeting. In the centre of it’s Southern elevation, the threshing barn has a set of full-height double doors. To the West of the double doors is a smaller single door. The midstrey appears to be a later addition to the barn. This is evidenced by weatherboard from the Northern elevation of the barn being present beneath the frame of the midstrey. Internally, the roof of the barn shows signs of reuse in the form of empty mortices on the underside of the rafters. The frame of the barn comprises a combination of hand-sawn and machine-cut timbers. Elsewhere in the structure, evidence of reused timbers can be seen - in the door frame on the Northern wall is a timber with a series of carpenter's marks (I, II, III, IIII and V) carved into it. The function of the timber is unclear but is possibly related to the threshold leap. As the carpenter’s marks do not have corresponding marks on the adjacent frame, the timber is likely reused. The cartographic evidence of Spital Farm proves the barn complex was constructed between 1777 and 1840, during which time the farmstead was both conceived and expanded. While the construction dates of the buildings are likely to be fairly contemporary with one another, the threshing barn was probably the first structure to have been constructed. The presence of reused timbers in the frame of the barn is interesting as map evidence suggests there were no preceding buildings at the site prior to the construction of the farm complex, suggesting the materials may have been timbers reclaimed from other land under ownership of the landowner. The threshing barn shows evidence of continued maintenance and rebuilding. The timber-frame of the barn is somewhat irregular, three different styles of framing have been used, indicating at least two phase of rebuilding. This maintenance and rebuilding of the barn’s frame is indicative of the barn’s importance and the need to keep it structurally sound for the continued success of the farm. In later years, it is evident the buildings were likely used to house livestock. The render and weather boarding on the interior of some of the buildings was likely added to stop animals gnawing on the timber-frames of the buildings and the brick floor added to stop livestock from sinking into a mud floor. Most recently, much of the complex was utilized for storage. <1>