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Summary

Threshing barn retaining several 'daisy wheel' symbols.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• THRESHING BARN (XVIII - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)

Full description

Wakeham, C. S., 2007, Archaeological Building Survey and Watching Brief at Loxbeare Barton, Loxbeare, Devon, 5; 5.3; Plates 1, 2, 4, 5 (Report - Watching Brief). SDV356370.

Elements of the construction of the threshing barn suggest it is broadly contemporary with the rebuilding of the stable and the construction of the linhay range. All three feature the same truss style, and both stable and threshing barn have brick dressings. The projection of the threshing barn beyond the northern wall of the stable may be a deliberate, allowing easy access into the western end of the barn without needing to enter the yard.
The threshing barn was a large east-west aligned building on the northern side of the yard, with wide opposing doorways at each end. Internally the barn measured 19.1m x 5.9m, with walls c. 0.5m wide. These were mainly of volcanic stone and random slate rubble, the latter particularly common on the interior. The western external elevation was finished with snecked dressed stone. Bricks had been used to construct the arch in the western elevation and to block an opening in the northern elevation. The eastern elevation had been completely rebuilt in concrete blocks.
The 2.6m wide doorway at the centre of the western elevation had a thick segmental arch comprised of alternating brick/half brick combinations. The doorway was fitted with a timber doorframe and double doors. The quoins on both the doorjambs and the corners of the elevation were relatively small, and often no taller than the adjacent stone courses.
The northern elevation had an angular rubble stone finish, with a thick pinkish mortar flush pointing.
The central doorway projected 0.3m beyond the wall, a feature not repeated on the southern elevation.
A loft door or loading hatch in the western half of the elevation had been bricked up and was partly obscured by 20th-century looseboxes. The eastern half contained a doorway into the adjoining mill building/shed. Either side of the doorway, at 2.9m above the floor, beam slots presumably once held a loft floor within that building.
The eastern elevation was rebuilt in the 20th century in concrete blocks with vertical galvanised metal sheets in the gable. It contained a 1.9m wide doorway/loading hatch at loft level.
The southern elevation was predominantly of random and randomly coursed rubble. An area of coursed dressed stone beneath the central doorway, and a patch of coursed hammer dressed stone facing into the western lean-to, probably reflect a repair. The doors of the wide central entrance were similar to those to the west. A loft door or loading hatch opened up into the adjoining cattle shed at the eastern end.
Interior: All of the original stonework bore the remains of a lime-based, whitewash render.
The western part of the floor had a part rubble, part lime-based surface with a 20th-century concrete mounting block. This was set against a raised concrete floor section laid at the centre of the building between the opposing doorways.
The south-west corner contained a small loft area created by joists extending from the southern wall to three central posts. Two possible beam slots, which do not align with anything, and the bricked up loft door in the northern elevation, suggest that the whole of the western half of the building was formerly lofted.
A 20th-century metal bather, for use as an animal pen, partitioned off the eastern end of the barn. The floor was concreted, and c. 0.18m lower than the central area.
A 0.38m high hole in the southern wall, beneath the loft level doorway/loading batch, and a possible blocked hole (0.2m high) in the opposing northern wall, may represent beam holes for the loft floor over the eastern end of the building.
At least thirteen inscribed circles of varying diameters were recorded to the east of the central doorway. Several contained four symmetrically placed lozenges. Similar symbols, containing six lozenges and described as 'daisy wheels', have been noted in a variety of buildings throughout the country, in contexts from the early 17th to the early 18th century, and interpreted as devices to ward off evil.
The slate roof rose to a full gable at both ends of the building. It was interrupted along both the northern and southern aspects by the perpendicular roofs of the mill building/shed and the cattle shed. The roof structure was similar to that of the stable and the linhay (albeit supporting two purlins per side). Here the trusses were all embedded within the tops of the northern and eastern walls.
Removal of the floor at the western end of the building revealed a 0.3m depth of made ground, which included soft areas of compact straw. There were no finds.
The removal of the concrete in the centre of the building exposed two lengths of mud bonded rubble wall, 0.25m wide, extending from the northern and southern walls. These were 2.3m and 1.7m long respectively, and interpreted as footings for a raised timber threshing-floor.
Stone footings for the doorway were exposed at a depth of 0.3m, extending eastward from the western jamb. These appear to have been removed from the eastern side during the rebuilding of the doorjamb.
A 0.3m wide test pit, situated 1.3m to the east of the northern doorway, revealed the foundations of the northern wall, projecting 0.08m into the building at 0.13m below floor level. This projecting foundation cut through the natural ground to a depth of at least 0.6m (0.3m beneath floor level).
Map object based on this source.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Map object based on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6563 - Building Survey and Watching Brief at Loxbeare Barton (Ref: 07.81)

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