Barn at New Hall, Copt Hall Lane, Little Wigborough, Essex

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Barn at New Hall, Little Wigborough, Essex

Historic Asset Assessment

Leigh Alston MA (Oxon), Architectural Historian

Colchester HER Event Code ECC3876

Leigh Alston MA (Oxon) 4 Nayland Road Bures St Mary Suffolk CO8 5BX Tel. (01787 228016 [email protected]

September 2016

Barn at New Hall, Copt Hall Lane, Little Wigborough, Essex

(TL 98154 15183)

Historic Asset Assessment

This report provides an archaeological record and analysis at English Heritage (2006) Level 2 of a redundant barn in the curtilage of a grade II-listed former farmhouse. It is intended to inform and accompany a planning application for conversion (Colchester Borough Council no. 161284).

Introduction

The report is accompanied by a CD containing a full photographic record in the form of 42 Canon 5D digital images of 21 megapixels (Appendix 1), but also includes 12 printed photographs of key features to illustrate the text. Each image is described in a separate schedule and wherever possible includes a scale rod with half-metre divisions in red and white. The site was inspected on 31st August 2016.

Summary

New Hall adjoins open countryside on the eastern side of Copt Hall Lane. The former farmhouse is listed at grade II and is believed to contain 14th century fabric behind its 19th century brick facade. A separately listed 16th century timber-framed barn of five bays lies to the east of the house but is now in separate ownership. This survey concerns a second timber- framed and weatherboarded barn which adjoins a walled cattle yard to the south of the house. At the time of the Little Wigborough tithe survey in 1838 the farm was a substantial tenanted holding with approximately 135 acres of land in Little Wigborough and possibly more in neighbouring parishes.

The southern barn is an unusual structure which was not shown on the tithe map but incorporates what appears to be an 18th century neat-house (cattle-shed). This shed may have been moved from the opposite corner of the cattle yard in circa 1840 and converted into a narrow threshing barn by adding a much taller porch and cutting new doors into the opposite wall. An additional bay was later added to its western gable along with a lean-to extension to the east. Pre-Victorian cattle sheds are notoriously rare, as most were rebuilt in the mid-19th century to accommodate the intensive system of mixed animal husbandry known today as Victorian High Farming. In consequence the structure remains of historic interest despite its re-use as a barn and the replacement or loss of most of its wall studs and rafters. The original internal layout can still be recognised, with an open shed of three bays to the west and a single-bay loose box with a separate entrance to the east. The main shed contained two arch- braced tie-beams with jowled posts but lacked a rear door and was only 4.9 m wide and just 2.3 m high at its eaves (16.25 ft by 7.5 ft). The arch braces have been removed but the tie- beams survive, as does one section of original external wall framing with primary braces interrupting the studs. Notwithstanding its historic interest the building has been too heavily altered to warrant listing in its own right.

1 Documentary and Cartographic Evidence

Figure 1. Current site plan based on a drawing by William Ryder & Partners Architects, highlighting the barn in red with the grade II-listed house in grey to the north and the separately owned grade II-listed barn in green to the east.

New Hall adjoins open countryside on the eastern side of Copt Hall Lane, approximately 700 m north of St Nicholas’s church. The former farmhouse is listed at grade II and according to the Historic England Schedule consists of an early-19th century red-brick front (western) range with a 14th century timber-framed range to the rear. A separately grade II-listed timber- framed 16th century barn of five bays lies to the east of the house but is now in separate ownership. Neither building was inspected for the purpose of this report. The house and a group of outbuildings to the south are understood to have been sold away from the farmland and the rest of the farm buildings some 20 years ago, and the northern bays of the listed barn have since collapsed.

At the time of the parish tithe survey in 1838 the farm was a substantial tenanted holding with approximately 135 acres of land in Little Wigborough and possibly more outside its boundary. The property was owned by Mrs Sarah Quincey and occupied by Samuel Bean. The tithe map shows the farmhouse with much the same outline as today, with the brick western range projecting slightly to the north, and the large, rectangular 16th century barn to the east (figure 2). A cluster of small outbuildings lay around a narrow yard to the south of the farm entrance, but there was nothing resembling the T-shaped barn that forms the subject of this report. The latter appears to have been built between 1838 and the Ordnance Survey of 1874 which shows its distinctive outline for the first time (figure 3). This outline remained unaltered in 1927 (figure 5), but by 1973 had been disguised by new additions to the east and west of the northern porch which have since been demolished (figure 6).

Figure 2 The Little Wigborough tithe map of 1838 (Essex Record Office). The outline of the grade II-listed farmhouse is recognisable in the north-western corner of the farm complex, with the separately listed 16th century rectangular barn to the east. A group of small outbuildings forms a narrow yard to the west of the pond, but there is no trace of the present southern barn which lies on the site of an empty paddock with a curved boundary.

Figure 3 The First Edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1874. The distinctive inverted T-shaped outline of the southern barn has appeared since 1838, having replaced the group of small outbuildings which had been demolished to create a pair of new, enlarged yards that were probably designed for cattle.

Figure 4. The Second Edition 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1897. Little had changed since 1874 but the buildings are depicted more clearly with diagonal shading.

Figure 5. The 25 inch Ordnance Survey of 1927. An open-sided shelter-shed, as indicated by a broken line, had been built in the western angle of the barn and porch.

Figure 6. The Ordnance Survey of 1973. The southern barn’s outline is obscured by an enlarged shed to the west of its northern porch and by a series of pens that may have housed cattle or pigs to the east. Both have since been demolished.

5 Building Analysis

Figure 7 Historic ground plan identifying each bay with a number for ease of reference in the text and photographic record. This drawing shows the layout of the original structure (2-5) within the present building, which now contains a 19th century boarded partition between bays 3 & 4 but is otherwise undivided.

Proportions and current layout

The barn to the south of the former farmhouse at New Hall is a timber-framed and weatherboarded structure with a roof of corrugated asbestos. It consists of 5 bays with a narrow lean-to extension on the east and extends to a total of 4.9 m in width by 20 m in length (16.25 by 65.25 ft) on an ENE-WSW axis which is simplified to east-west for the purpose of this analysis. The main building rises to only 2.3 m at its eaves (7.5 ft), but the gabled entrance porch (7) which projects by 3.2 m from the centre of its northern elevation is 1 m higher (39 ins). The interior is undivided except for a good 19th century boarded partition containing an internal door between bays 3 and 4 as labelled in figure 7 (illus. A2.6 below), although the western bay (6) contains a late-20th century loose box of cement block that was probably designed for calves or pigs. The building was used only for general domestic storage at the time of inspection, and was entered by two sets of double doors in its southern elevation, immediately opposite the porch (A2.11) and in its western gable (A2.2). Two additional doors have been cut into both side walls of the porch, and are likely to have opened into adjoining mid-20th century sheds in its return angles as depicted in figure 6. These sheds no longer survive, but a brick plinth remains to the west (A2.3).

Original layout and purpose

In its present form the layout of the building is typical of local threshing barns, with tall entrance doors rising to the eaves of the northern porch and lower rear doors immediately opposite. The porch and central bay (4) are likely to have contained a boarded or brick threshing floor of which no trace survives. The present floor is a mix of modern concrete and 19th or early-20th century bitumen. The boarded partition to the west of the entrance bay survives from the 19th century and may be contemporary with

6 the porch. The Ordnance Survey of 1874 shows the building adjoining a small enclosed yard on the north, of which the brick boundary wall is still intact (A2.2), with a number of additional sheds in its north-western corner. The latter have been largely rebuilt and partly converted, but are understood by the present owner to have been cattle sheds. This configuration is typical of the mid-19th century, when the primary purpose of many local barns was the production and storage of grain for cattle feed. The low height of the main range was inadequate for the storage of corn in sheaves in the pre-Victorian tradition, and contrasts with the 16th century barn to the east, but was sufficient to house grain and feed in sacks or bins.

Date

The barn was not present at the time of the parish tithe survey in 1838 (figure 2), but the style of its carpentry suggests it was built very soon afterwards, i.e. in circa 1840, with the eastern lean-to (1) and western bay (6) added later. The framing of the porch is consistent with this date, but bays 2-5 in figure 7 formed an earlier building that was probably designed as a neat-house (cattle shed) and appears to have been moved from elsewhere – possibly the north-eastern corner of the yard - and converted into a barn by adding the porch. The various phases of construction are described in more detail below.

Phases of Construction

1. Five-bay linear shed, probably designed as a neat-house (bays 2-5).

The oldest part of the frame consists of bays 2-5 as numbered in figure 7, which formed a complete four-bay building of 15.25 m in length by 4.9 m in width (50 ft by 16.25 ft). The interior was divided into two unequal compartments, with a three-bay section of 11.5 m (38 ft) to the west and a single-bay chamber of 3.6 m (12ft) to the east. The bays of the larger space were divided by two open trusses with large arch-braces linking the wall posts to the tie-beams and the posts were jowled throughout (i.e. with swollen tops designed to offer tenons to both the roof-plates and tie-beams). The roof structure consisted of clasped-purlins with pegged collars and face-halved scarf joints in the plates. The walls contained substantial flat-sectioned studs that were tenoned and pegged to the plates except where interrupted by diagonal primary braces that were also pegged to the storey posts. Only the southern elevation of the westernmost bay (5) retains what appears to be its original studwork, as shown to the left in illus. A2.10, with the other studs either missing or replaced. The external walls of bays 2 and 3 consist entirely of late-20th century softwood and cement block-work (A2.8). Most of the common rafters have also been lost, leaving only the purlins, collars and principal rafters intact, but the roof appears to be original to the structure as the timbers of the western gable are heavily weathered where they adjoin the extension bay (6) – apart from the tie-beam which has been renewed in softwood (A2.9).

Date and function.

There is nothing to suggest this four-bay structure was built as a barn. Although the timbers of its central bay have been cut by the later northern porch (7), removing both the roof-plate and much of the roof, there is no evidence of an original rear door in the opposite wall where the intact roof-plate contains an uninterrupted sequence of five stud mortises. The present double doors in this elevation have been cut into the frame. The only indication of an original door lies at the eastern end of the three-bay space where a pegged mortise for a missing door lintel is visible in the northern post. (This mortise is not reflected in the southern wall and is straight-edged - so did not belong to a wall

7 brace.) The single-bay section to the east was entered by another door at the northern end of its external gable, as indicated by a gap in the tie-beam’s stud mortises (A2.12), but was not linked internally to the three-bay compartment. This unusual layout, coupled with the absence of a loft and windows, strongly suggests the building was a cattle shed with a separate loose box to the east. The low height of its eaves and relatively narrow width is fully consistent with this interpretation. The structure is impossible to date with precision, but an 18th century origin is most likely given the presence of substantial arch-braces to the tie-beams: it cannot pre-date the introduction of primary wall bracing the latter part of the 17th century. Its absence from the tithe map of 1838 suggests it was moved from elsewhere to create the present barn, and it may represent the large building in the north-eastern corner of the adjacent yard which had disappeared by 1874 (figures 2 & 3). The lack of original studwork is consistent with such a scenario, as minor components were often jettisoned when the principal components of a building were re-used and adapted in this way.

2. Porch (bay 7).

The porch is 1 m taller than the earlier structure, and cuts both its roof-plate and rafters. It contains clear evidence of a large northern entrance flanked by jambs with diagonal braces in its upper corners, but this entrance was blocked with later studwork in the 20th century and the western jamb and brace were removed (A2.7). The present side doors are later insertions which interrupt the frame. The nature of the framing, with pegged square-profile studs interrupted by pegged primary braces is typical of the first half of the 19th century, as are the pegged collars of its clasped-purlin roof, but the lack of jowls from its corner posts indicates a date in the latter part of this period. Jowled posts disappeared during the first quarter of the 19th century, and pegged joints were quickly superseded by nailed construction in its middle decades, so the porch is likely to have been built very soon after its depiction on the 1838 tithe map.

3. Gable extensions (1 & 6)

The western bay (6) is an extension of 3 m in length (10 ft) to the weathered gable of bay 5. It consists of narrow tall-sectioned studs interrupted by diagonal primary braces that are nailed rather than pegged to the frame in the typical manner of the late-19th and early-20th centuries (A2.10). The collars of its clasped-purlin roof are also nailed, but the double doors of the external gable are secondary insertions with empty stud mortises in the tie-beam above. The fabric of the lean-to eastern extension (1) dates almost entirely from the 20th century, with softwood studs and chipboard on a plinth of rendered Fletton brick, but the rafters are older and suggest it may be a much rebuilt 19th century addition (A2.12).

Historic Significance

The southern barn at New Hall was formed in circa 1840 by adding a new northern porch to the 18th century timber frame of a neat-house (cattle shed) that was probably moved from the opposite corner of the adjoining cattle yard. Extensions were added to both gables in the late-19th or early-20th centuries. The outline of the resulting building remains largely intact today, but its fabric was much altered in the 20th century by replacing a high proportion of its studs with softwood, renewing most of its external weatherboarding and adding a new roof covering of corrugated asbestos. Its historic interest derives chiefly from the neat-house, which represents a rare survival. While purpose-built barns of the 18th century and earlier are relatively common, pre-19th century cattle sheds are notoriously scarce as the great majority were rebuilt in the mid- 19th century to accommodate the yard-based system of mixed animal husbandry known

8 today as Victorian High Farming. Despite its re-use as a barn and the loss of much original fabric this example can still be recognised as a three-bay open shed entered by a door in its corner and a single-bay loose box with a separate entrance. Despite the building’s rarity and historic interest it has been too heavily altered and depleted to meet the strict Historic England criteria for listing in its own right.

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Leigh Alston is a building archaeologist and architectural historian who lectures on the analysis and recording of timber-framed structures in the Department of Archaeology at Cambridge University, but also undertakes commissions on a freelance basis for the National Trust and various county archaeological units. He co-founded the Suffolk Historic Buildings Group in 1993, serving as Chairman for 13 years, and has been involved in several television programmes including Grand Designs and David Dimbleby’s ‘How We Built Britain’. Publications include ‘Late Medieval Workshops in East Anglia’ in ‘The Vernacular Workshop’ edited by Paul Barnwell & Malcolm Airs (Council for British Archaeology and English Heritage, 2004) and the National Trust guidebook to Lavenham Guildhall.

Schedule of full photographic record follows (pp.10-12)

9 Appendix 1 (on accompanying CD): Full Photographic Record

Descriptions of Photographs in Appendix 1

Photograph no.

1. A general view of the site from the east showing the house (right) and barn with the previously converted shed in the centre.

2. A general view from the east showing the proximity of the barn (left) to the entrance from Copt Hall Lane.

3. A general view from the south showing the barn on the right and a WWII Nissen hut to the left.

4. A general view from the south-west showing the walled yard and barn (right) with the grade II-listed barn in the rear to the left.

5. The southern facade of the grade II-listed former farmhouse. Included for site context.

6. Exterior of western gable with double vehicle doors and glazed window, showing the walled yard and house to the left.

7. Northern exterior showing the corrugated asbestos roof, tarred weatherboarding & central gabled porch (7).

8. The barn from the north-west showing the western side door of the porch (7).

9. The barn from the north-east showing the eastern side door of the porch (7) & brick plinth of demolished shed in return angle.

10. A detail of the side door in the eastern exterior of the porch (7) with tarred weatherboarding renewed to left.

11. Eastern external gable showing lean-to extension (1) with corrugated asbestos roof and cladding above.

12. The southern exterior of the barn showing its corrugated asbestos roof and central double doors with.

13. A detail of the ostensibly 19th century double doors in the centre of the rear (southern) exterior.

14. General internal view from western gable showing 20th century cement-block cattle pens or pig sties to left.

15. General view from threshing bay (4) looking west showing 20th century concrete floor with porch (7) to right.

16. Threshing bay (4) from west showing 19th century boarded partition and door adjoining bay 3 with porch (7) to left.

10 17. Threshing bay (4) from south showing porch (7) with truncated roof-plate of earlier frame to left and right.

18. Threshing bay (4) from porch (7) to north showing truncated roof-plate of earlier frame to left and right.

19. General internal view from eastern gable showing bays 2 & 3 with mortises of missing partition in central tie-beam.

20. General internal view of bays 1-3 from partition adjoining bays 4 to west showing mortises of missing partition in central tie-beam.

21. Northern interior of porch (7) showing blocked full-height entrance with original jamb and upper corner brace to right.

22. Western interior of porch (7) showing typical mid-19th century primary braces pegged and tenoned to frame.

23. Eastern interior of porch (7) showing secondary door & pegged primary braces with earlier, lower frame (4) to right.

24. Roof structure of porch (7) from north showing missing rafters with intact clasped- purlin trusses & pegged collars.

25. Clasped-purlin roof structure of bay 5 from bay 4 to east showing pegged collars & truncated principal rafters.

26. Internal western gable (6) showing later double doors & softwood tie-beam with nailed primary braces & collar.

27. Original weathered external western gable of bay 5 from extension bay 6 showing renewed tie-beam & jowled corner posts.

28. Southern interior of extension bay (6) showing narrow studs and nailed diagonal brace with weathered post of bay 5 to left.

29. Southern interior of extension bay (6) showing narrow studs & recent block-work with weathered post of bay 5 to right.

30. Southern interior of bay 5 with ostensibly original pegged studs and pegged primary brace.

31. Northern interior of bay 5 showing replaced narrow studs with pegged mortises in roof-plate for 6 original studs.

32. Open truss between bays 4 & 5 from west showing pegged mortises in tie-beam and posts for missing arch braces.

33. Southern interior of bay 4 showing later studs & double doors with pegged mortises for five original studs in roof-plate.

34. Southern interior of bays 1-3 showing 20th century softwood studs with tie-beam of original partition to left.

11 35. Northern interior of bays 1-3 showing 20th century softwood studs with pegged mortise for door lintel to left of central post.

36. Northern interior of bay 3 showing pegged mortises in post for lateral wall brace and external door to left.

37. Tie-beam between bays 2 & 3 from east showing seven stud mortises in soffit for missing partition.

38. Boarded partition between bays 3 & 4 from east showing pegged mortises in tie- beam for original arch-braced open truss.

39. Eastern internal gable showing lean-to extension (1) and tie-beam with gap in stud mortises for an external door to left.

40. Detail from west of northern end of original eastern gable tie-beam of bay 2 showing gap for door to left.

41. Eastern tie-beam of bay 2 adjoining later extension (1) showing mortises for original gable studs with door gap to left.

42. Southern interior of roof structure in bays 2 & 3 showing clasped-purlin structure with pegged collars but missing common rafters.

Photographic Appendix 2 follows on pp. 13-18

12 Appendix 2 (pp. 13-18): Selected Printed Photographs

Illus. 1. A general view of the site from the east showing the grade II-listed house in the rear to the right with the gable of the barn to the left. According to the Schedule of Listed Buildings the right-hand wing of the house contains timber framing of the 14th century. A previously converted shed is visible in the centre and a WWII Nissen hut to the extreme left.

Illus. 2. A general view from the site entrance to the south-west showing the walled yard to the north of the barn and the grade II-listed 16th century five-bay threshing barn now in separate ownership in the rear to the left. Two of the five bays have collapsed to the left of its central porch.

Illus. 3. The barn’s northern facade showing its corrugated asbestos roof and weatherboarding – most of which was renewed in the 20th century when the full-height entrance doors of the projecting porch (7) were blocked. The brick plinth of a demolished lean-to shed is visible on the left.

Illus. 4. The largely 20th century lean-to (1) adjoining the eastern gable. The upper gable and the lean-to roof are clad in corrugated asbestos.

Illus. 5. The threshing bay (4) from the east, showing the taller porch (7) on the right cutting the roof and wall of the earlier timber frame. The tie-beam adjoining bay 3 contains empty mortises for arch braces rising from the jowled storey posts. The floor is of concrete and bitumen throughout.

Illus. 6. The threshing bay (4) from the west showing the intact 19th century boarded partition dividing it from bay 3 with the rafters cut by the porch (7) on the left. The partition may be an original feature (i.e. contemporary with the porch) or a slightly later insertion.

Illus. 7. The northern interior of the porch (7). The side walls contain diagonal primary braces which are tenoned and pegged to the frame in a manner not usually found later than the mid-19th century. The gable was built with a tall central doorway that has since been blocked: its studs are not pegged and its tie-beam contains mortises for a second door post and diagonal corner brace matching those which survive on the right.

Illus. 8. Bays 2 and 3 from the west, with the lean-to addition (1) in the rear. The external studs in this section of the barn have been replaced with modern softwood, but the central tie-beam contains pegged mortises for the studs of a missing internal partition that lacked a door. The post to the left contains the pegged mortise of an external door lintel.

Illus. 9. The remains of the external western gable of bay 5, seen from the extension bay (6) to the west. The principal rafters, pegged collar and jowled corner posts are heavily weathered, but the tie-beam is a 20th century replacement and the diagonal V-struts are later additions.

Illus. 10. The southern internal wall of the extension bay (6) showing its narrow studs and nailed diagonal brace, interrupted by a later hatch. The apparently original studs and primary brace of bay 5 to the left are much heavier, and are pegged rather than nailed to the frame. This is the only section of intact framing in the entire four-bay structure (2-5).

Illus. 11. The open truss between bays 4 & 5 seen from the west with pegged mortises in the tie-beam and jowled posts for missing arch-braces which descended to within 1.2 m of the ground (4.25 ft). The double doors of bay 4 to the right interrupt pegged stud mortises in the roof-plate and there is no evidence of an original door in this position.

Illus. 12. The eastern tie-beam of bay 2 adjoining the later extension (1) showing the pegged mortises in its soffit for the studs of the original gable with a gap for an external door to the left.