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Summary

Threshing barn dating to the late 17th century.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1106605: BARN APPROXIMATELY 8 METRES SOUTH-WEST OF FORD FARMHOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS61SE/87/2
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• THRESHING BARN (Built, XVII - 1601 AD (Between) to 1700 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 1986, Chawleigh, 11 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV43941.

Barn approx 8m south-west of Ford Farmhouse. Late C17-early C18. Plastered cob on rubble footings; corrugated asbestos roof (formerly thatch). Gable-ended barn facing east with large doorway a little left of centre flanked by short projecting midstrey walls over which the roof is carried down as a small porch. To left is a narrow ventilator and to right inserted C20 garage doors. There is a much smaller rear door to the threshing floor. 4-bay roof of a-frame trusses with pegged lap-jointed collars and x-apexes. The barn forms a group with nearby stables, cowshed and the picturesque Ford Farmhouse.

Cox, J. + Thorp, J. R. L., 2017, The Traditional Farm Buildings at Ford Farm, Chawleigh (Report - Survey). SDV360139.

An assessment of the disused stable and barn was undertaken from an historic and archaeological point of view in order to provide a Statement of Historic Significance.
The barn probably dates from the late 17th century. There is very little to go on in terms of dating on stylistic criteria. However, the list description appears to describe a similar roof structure over the nearby farmhouse, which includes a number of distinctive structural and decorative details which, taken together, can date it to the closing decades of the 17th century.
It is built of plastered cob on low stone rubble footings with the roof now covered with corrugated asbestos sheeting (replacing thatch). It is on a north-east to south-west axis, but for the sake of simplicity it is described in this report according to the main cardinal points (as if it was at right angles to the farmhouse). Thus it has a north-south axis facing east into the yard. There are opposing front and rear doorways to the site of the threshing floor south of centre. Originally the barn would have been open to the roof with no interior partitions. In the mid 20th century a first floor level was inserted. The ground floor level is divided into four compartments and the first floor level into two. It was probably at this time that a second wide doorway was inserted into the front wall. The small lean-to shed on the south end is a secondary addition. It is a cob-walled stock pen.
The barn is now gable-ended but it seems that the north end was originally halfhipped.
The east front contains a wagonway to the threshing floor set south of centre. It is flanked by projecting short midstrey walls and the roof is carried down over them creating a short porch. It contains a solid oak frame of indeterminate date; it could be original. It contains double two-flap plank-and-ledge doors hung on strap hinges with teardrop finials. These probably date from the 19th century. The flaps were provided to create and control a draught between the opposing front and back doorways which would blow away the chaff during the hand flailing of the wheat on the threshing floor.
To left (south) of the wagonway there is a narrow ventilator slit set high in the wall. To the right (north) there is a wide 20th century doorway under a timber lintel containing mid 20th century double plank doors with cast-iron strap hinges. The northern end contains a single small window serving the secondary first floor room. The window appears to have been made by enlarging an original ventilator slit. The western rear wall features three full-height pilaster buttresses. The only
opening is the rear doorway to the threshing floor situated south of centre. This is a man-sized doorway. It has a chamfered oak frame which probably dates from the late 17th century and contains a plank-and-ledge door of indeterminate date (probably 19th century).
The animal pen is cob walled with a lean-to roof of corrugated iron. It has doorways in the east end and south front. Only the latter still retains its plain joinery. Inside there is a cobbled floor. There is evidence of a timber feeding rack against the back (west) wall.
Features: The barn retains the threshing floor made up of sturdy oak or elm planks. The opposing doorways indicate that there has always been a threshing floor in this position but the present planks are probably replacements of the originals. Some cobble flooring is exposed at the north end of the barn. The rest of the floor is covered by a screed of 20th century concrete.
The walls are plastered and the four-bay roof is carried on A-frame trusses with lap-jointed X-apexes held by two pegs and plain lap-jointed collars fixed by a peg and iron spike each side.
The 20th century partitions are of plain studwork clad with boarding, which is sometimes plastered. The first floor is carried on plain upright joists set axially so that they rest on the heads of the partitions.
It is a nice, but not particularly early or unusual, example of a relatively small traditional threshing barn built in the mid-Devon vernacular style. Sadly, it has lost its connection with its mother farmhouse. It was built as part of the same building programme which produced the farmhouse, and both were built of cob with thatch roofs. The stable (q.v.) was rebuilt in the 19th century, but apparently on the footprint of the original. There was a contemporary cowshed, which was also listed in 1986, but has since been rebuilt as a cottage, compromising the integrity of the group. The barn was individually listed in 1986 as an element of a rare group of largely contemporary historic buildings comprising a vernacular farmhouse and farm buildings from the late 17th century created on a modest scale.

Ordnance Survey, 2022, Mastermap 2022 (Cartographic). SDV364674.

Building shown.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7238 - Historic Building Recording, The Traditional Farm Buildings at Ford Farm, Chawleigh (Ref: ACD1550)

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