Barn at Paul’s Hall, Essex

The Barn at Paul’s Hall, Belchamp St Paul used to belong to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.  It is important because some of the timbers have been dated to circa 1000, so it may be Saxon in origin. I was fortunate to meet the owner, who allowed me to walk around and photograph inside and outside.

It is a seven bay, timber-framed, aisled barn with, clapboard cladding and a corrugated asbestos roof. Although not very pretty, the latter has at least kept the barn dry and helped preserve the ancient timbers.

This diagram shows the earth-fast posts as described in  “The Essex Countryside - Historic Barns - a planning appraisal”.

© County Planner,      County Hall,
    Chelmsford

This has an excellent illustrated,historical summary of barn development.

You can download the .pdf file by clicking on this icon:

Interior of barn at Paul’s Hall