Barn at Manor Farm Shipmeadow, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

SHIPMEADOW LOW ROAD TM 39 SE 0/21 Barn 30m north of Manor Farmhouse GV II* Aisled barn. First half of C14 with late C19 alteration. Timber framed and weatherboarded, shallow-pitched slated roof. A late C20 agricultural storage building has been built against the east side. Interior. 5-bay frame (the original length), with a central cart entrance, originally solely on the east side. The arcade posts have deep jowled heads; 3 on the east side rest on the original sleepers which tie back to the aisle walls, the remainder have their bases encased in C20 concrete. Each truss has a pair of tie beam braces, straight or slightly curved and of square section (all intact), and a pair of passing braces, extending upward from the mid-point of the aisle walls, and trenched across the aisle-ties, aisle posts and tie beams; these have been cut off above tie beam level, but would probably have continued as 'parallel rafters'. If the top of the tie-beams were investigated the original roof structure could possibly be reconstructed. Straight braces extend from the aisle posts to the arcade plates; most of these braces survive. Normal assembly to main frame, reversed assembly to the aisles. The wallplates have simple splayed scarf joints with face pegs; most of the studding is later infilling and the south end of the west aisle has been entirely rebuilt. The aisle walls were raised c.1.5m in C19, probably when the barn was re-roofed. The gable ends have also been almost entirely re-studded, but evidence for the original widely-spaced studding and the wattle and daub infilling survives. A weatherboarded partition divides the southernmost bay from the remainder. The C19 roof timbers are concealed by softwood boarding. Medieval aisled barns are a rarity in east Suffolk and this may be the most complete survivor.

Listing NGR: TM3790490322