Antique
Buildings
SITEMAP
GAZATTEER
I am very interested in the structure of the barns I visit, but it is not always easy to see how they were constructed. Some of the books and articles I have read have detailed drawings, but if like me you are not a professional architect or historian, it is sometimes difficult to “read” these technical drawings.
In the course of my researches I came across the website of Antique Buildings Ltd.. They dismantle, conserve and resell timber barn frames. Their yard at Dunsfold, on the Surrey/Sussex border, holds immense stocks of reclaimed ancient oak beams (all under cover and easily accessible) which have been salvaged from buildings that could not be saved in their entirety. In addition, they have a stock of complete frames of buildings, such as houses, barns, cartsheds, and granaries. All their frames have been painstakingly drawn, numbered and photographed, before being carefully dismantled for re-erection.
They have kindly given me permission to reproduce their drawings and photos here. I think you will agree that this careful conservation and recording by a private company is an important addition to the work of English Heritage and the various voluntary barn organisations around the country.
The images on this page all courtesy of Antique Buildings Ltd. Visit their site to see the drawings at higher resolution. I think they are beautiful, and the photographs taken during the dismantling of the barns give us a chance to see details which are not clear when the barn is clad and roofed.
- Blacklands Farm Barn
- Originally stood at: Elstead, Surrey
- Period: c1700 and c1900
- Material: Oak and Pine
- Dimensions: 35ft long by 14ft wide
- Caerwedyn Barn
- Originally stood at: Caereinion, Wales
- Period: c. 1700
- Material: Oak
- Dimensions: 28ft by 17ft
- Church Farm Barn
- Originally stood at: Steeple Claydon
- Period: c1700
- Material: Oak
- Dimensions: 41ft long by 16.5ft wide
The images on this page all courtesy of
Antique Buildings Ltd.
Please visit their site.
The drawings are by Sarah, a member of the Antique Buildings team.
- Bishops Waltham Granary
- Originally stood at: Bishops Waltham, Hampshire
- Period: c. 1700
- Material: Oak
- Dimensions: 14ft square
- Budds Farm Barn
- Originally stood at: Rusper, West Sussex
- Period: c1700
- Material: Oak
- Dimensions: 36.5ft long by 18ft wide
The images on this page all courtesy of
Antique Buildings Ltd.
Please visit their site.
- Church House Farm Barn
- Originally stood at: Hereford
- Period: c1600
- Material: Oak
- Dimensions: 120ft long by 25ft wide
- Lower Tulleys Wells Farm Barn
- Originally stood at: Lower Tulleys Wells Farm, Cooksbridge, Sussex
- Period: c. 1700
- Material: Oak with Pine Rafters
- Dimensions: 46ft x 20ft (33.5ft with lean-to).
- Height to eaves 12.5ft, Height to apex 25.5ft (not including plinth wall)
- Cowfold Barn
- Originally stood at Orchard House, Cowfold, East Sussex
- Period: c. 1500
- Material: Oak
- Dimensions: 31 ft long x 20 ft wide
Please visit the Antique Buildings Ltd. website. There are drawings on their Buildings for Sale and their Sold Buildings sections, but also look at their Building Materials section for photographs of the variety of beams, tiles etc. that go into the building of a barn, and their Completed Projects section to see some of the barns they have rescued, in their new setting.
Antique Buildings Ltd.Dunsfold, Surrey, GU8 4NP
Telephone: 01483 200477,
Facsimile: 01483 200666 E-mail: info@antiquebuildings.com