GAZATTEER

The Home Farm at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire was designed in 1794, by the architect Sir John Soane for the 3rd Earl of Hardwicke. He was one of many great landowners in the 18th century who became enthusiastic agricultural improvers and thus contributed to what is known as the Agricultural Revolution. The Great Barn is one of the few barns surviving from this period, by a known architect.

The barn was part of an integrated farmyard with granaries, animal byres, milking parlours, dairies,and wagon sheds designed to make the most efficient use of the space and to facilitate the various processes which took place on the farm.

The barn is timber framed, built from machine-sawn timbers, with a half-hipped, thatched roof, with a tie beam, supporting queen posts with braces to the lower purlins. The walls are clapboard clad and stand on a brick plinth.