Building record 0012402000 - BARN AT NEW MANOR FARM

Dendrochronological analysis of eight aisle posts from the barn failed to provide evidence for the date of construction. One timber was sucessfully dated but has several relict joint housings and is likely to have been reused (B7).
Condition of barn assessed as very bad. Included on English Heritage's Register of Buildings at Risk and Heritage at Risk 1999-2024. Timber structure now supported by full internal birdcage scaffold and robust weatherproof roofing erected early 2019. In 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 condition described as fair with priority C: 'Slow decay; no solution agreed' (B10-14,B16,B19,B20, B22-27,B29-33).
Main barn may date to the 14th century from a detailed study of the construction methods (with reused 12th century aisle post and 18th - 19th century extensions). May have originally been a tithe barn. Evidence for this is circumstantial - manor belonging to Missenden Abbey and local area not known for arable (B17).
Excavations inside the aisled barn showed that until the 13th century the site had been a stream. It was levelled and infilled from the 13th century, suggesting the canalisation and movement of the stream to the south. The barn cannot have been built before the 13th century, therefore. One trench just to the north of the barn uncovered a brick wall at the eastern end which may be the east end of the barn shown in the Inclosure Map and 1st Edition OS map. The chalk wall foundation in Trench 10 within the barn may be the building attached to the east end of the barn shown on John King's map of 1821. The crushed chalk surfaces seen in Trenches 8 and 9 within the barn is possibly a yard between the buildings shown on this map (B18).
Further dendro-dating carried out by English Heritage in 2006 found that only two timbers of the eight sampled were datable and confirmed a late 12th or early 13th century date for the southern arcade post of Truss 6 with a felling date between 1174 and 1210 (sample 7). Subsequent structural analysis concluded that this timber is re-used from an exceptionally early aisled building. The southern arcade posts of Truss 4 (sample 3) was dated to the late 14th century with a felling date of somewhere between 1358 and 1398. This timber was similar in character to the majority of the other timbers used for the main structure and is thought to be indicative of the date of the barn. See report for detailed discussion (B21).
In early 2019 full internal birdcage scaffold and external temporary roof structure and metal roofing errected to support and weatherproof the timber structure (B27).
Grade II+. An aisled barn dating from the C14, built reusing late-C12 or early-C13 timber, it was altered in the C18 and C19 including the addition of an aisle to the east and west, and the replacement of the north porch.
Reasons for Designation:
The barn at New Manor Farm, Bierton with Broughton, Aylesbury Vale, a C14 aisled barn built reusing earlier fabric, is listed at Grade II+ for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest: - as a particularly well-preserved medieval timber-frame aisled barn which retains much of its original structure;
- dendrochronology has dated the construction of the barn to the C14, it also confirms that it was built reusing late-C12 or early-C13 fabric from an earlier aisled building and this represents evidence of the early development of fully-framed timber buildings.
Historic interest: - the carved motif thought to be an apotropaic mark provides an insight into early beliefs and traditions;
- the later additions and modifications to the barn provide physical evidence of the evolution of agricultural practices particularly in the C18 and C19.
Group value: - with Old Manor (Grade II) and the medieval moated site to the south-east (a scheduled monument).
History:
The aisled barn at New Manor Farm is located within the parish of Bierton with Broughton. It was originally associated with Manor Farm house. At the time of the Domesday Survey (completed in 1086), William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, was lord of the manor of Broughton. In the early C12 it had descended to Isabella, the heiress of the Warennes, and her husband, William, Count of Boulogne, who confirmed a charter granting land in Broughton to Missenden Abbey, forming Broughton Magna, also known as Abbot’s Broughton. This area included Manor Farm with its aisled barn which was built in the C14, using material from an earlier building, as a large grain barn for the collection and storage of tithes for Missenden Abbey.
The Manor Farm complex also came to include a farmhouse of C15 or C16 origin (known as Old Manor, listed Grade II) surrounded by a moat, situated to the east of the aisled barn. The possible location of Broughton’s medieval manor has been identified as the moated site (scheduled) to the south-east of the barn. The manor of Abbot’s Broughton was held by the abbey until its dissolution in 1538. Three years later Henry VIII granted it to Sir John Baldwin, from whom it descended to Thomas Pakington, and was held by his descendants during the C17. It later came into the possession of William Meade who sold it in around 1721 to the trustees of Aylesbury Grammar School.
The farm complex is shown on Jeffreys Map of Buckinghamshire (1768). The Broughton Tithe Map (1850) depicts the Manor Farm complex consisting of the aisled barn with a long wing attached to the north-west, the farmhouse surrounded by a moat to the east, further detached farm buildings to the north and a mill to the west; the Tithe Apportionment records the site as still being in the ownership of Aylesbury Grammar School. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1:2500, 1878) shows the farmstead; the aisled barn’s footprint was largely the same, although further farm buildings have been added to the adjacent farmyard. By the Third Edition Ordnance Survey map (1:2500, 1925) the arrangement of the aisled barn and surrounding farmstead had been subject to very little change. By the Post-War First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1:2500, 1981) a new farmhouse had been built to the north-west of the farmstead, and some C19 farm buildings had been replaced by a large range of cattle sheds which had been built along the northern and eastern side of the aisled barn
Tree-ring samples were taken in 1996 and 2006 from the aisled barn at New Manor Farm. Subsequent dendrochronological analysis of these samples (Tyers, 2010), along with a recent historic structural assessment (Watkin and Watkin, 2007), conclude that the current barn was built in the C14, reusing timber, including an arcade post, from a late-C12 or early-C13 aisled building which has been noted as extremely early in the development of fully framed timber buildings. There is no visible sign of a surviving threshing floor. The barns central bay is the widest and may have been the location of opposing threshing doors; it is now (2019) the location of a later porch to the north and a smaller double-leaf opening to the south. Evidence in the south aisle suggests that original walls were wattle and daub infill. It had been previously considered that the roof was replaced by a queen-strut roof in the C18; however, the structural assessment (Watkin and Watkin, 2007) has concluded that much of the roof frame is contemporary with the main barn frame. The report notes that the form of the roof is unusually complicated, and suggests that empty mortices in the principal rafters indicate the roof originally had simple angled struts which were replaced at some point (possibly not long after its initial construction) by queen-struts in order to provide extra strength.
The east-end aisle and the high-pitched hipped-end roof above are later structures, possibly resulting from the loss of a full height east-end bay at an unknown date. An aisle was added to the west end of the barn in around the late C18 or early C19; this aisle extended north and beyond the main barn's north elevation, however, this wing was heavily truncated in the late C20 when the cattle shed built to the north. Also in around the late C18 or early C19 the cart entrance porch was added to the northern elevation, replacing an earlier porch. The former northern aisle was widened to the west of the porch. Over the years various early timbers within the aisled barn have been replaced by new timbers or reused timbers sourced from elsewhere in the barn. The multiple openings in the north and south elevations, and changes to the weatherboard cladding, indicate that the barn became used for housing animals in later years. The roof was recorded in 1951 as being covered by an old tile roof, and it is thought that the barn would originally have been covered by tiles.
The roof currently (2019) has a temporary cover of plastic sheeting. In the late C20 and early C21 the barn was subject to various structural interventions including the addition of restraints and scaffolding, the most recent being the addition of a large corrugated metal cover in 2019.
Details:
An aisled barn, dating from the C14, built reusing late-C12 or early-C13 timber, it was altered in the C18 and C19 including the addition of an aisle to the east and west, and the replacement of the north porch.
The late-C20 cattle sheds which abut the north and east elevations of the barn are not included in the listing.
MATERIALS: oak frame with weatherboard cladding.
EXTERIOR: the aisled barn is clad in weatherboarding above a brick plinth. The pitched roof structure is hipped with a gablet to east and gabled to the west. The south elevation has a central double-leaf plank door; to the right is a single-leaf door and three-light window and to the left is a five-light window, a stable door, a single-leaf plank door and a further window. At the south-east corner of the barn is a brick buttress. The north elevation of the barn has a projecting pitched-roof cart entrance porch which is topped by weatherboarding with a central four-light window. Large sections of the weatherboarding on the north elevation have been lost. Below the west end is the later lean-to west aisle with multiple openings. To the north the aisle is topped by a pitch roof and extends slightly beyond the barn’s north elevation. The east aisle is also a lean-to and has some of its weatherboard cladding.
INTERIOR: the following is a summary of the internal timber-frame structure of the aisled barn; a detailed description can be found in Watkin and Watkin, 2007.
The barn’s timber-frame has a large central arcade with a contemporary southern aisle, a modified northern aisle which includes a replacement central projecting porch, and later aisles to the east and west. Within the existing frame there is evidence of empty mortices indicating the location of lost timbers. Several early timbers have also been replaced, usually by softwoods, although some are reused timbers which have come from elsewhere in the barn.
There are six principal trusses. Apart from the most easterly truss, they all have carpenters marks numbered III to VIII (east to west). The numbering and the lack of finishing to the framing on both end trusses suggest that the barn extended by at least one further bay to both the east and west. The trusses have varying amounts of surviving original timbering. In general they consist of a pair of mostly jowled arcade posts topped by arcade plates. Arch braces spring from three sides of the posts, up to the arcade plates and tie beams; the tie beams and arcade plates are also connected in some places by dragon ties. The roof has queen struts which connect the tie beams to the principal rafters. The struts also have braces which join to a collar that is topped by clasped purlins. The purlins are additionally controlled by small ashlar pieces fixed to the collars and the principal rafters. The roof is topped by upper collars and a square-set ridge piece is supported by saddles lapped into the principal rafters. Some of the early common rafters also survive. Other features of note include an apotropaic mark with a petal motif on the tie-beam at the barn’s west end.
To the north and south of the central arcade are the remains of the original aisles. The aisle roofs have purlins supported with angle struts; these are pegged through passing braces which run from the aisle wall to the underside of the main truss tie beams. The southern aisle retains the aisle posts and trusses along the full length of the building. The northern aisle has been widened which has resulted in the loss of most of the original timber-framing to the west side of the central porch, and fragmentary survival to the east including one full passing brace. The northern central porch, which replaces an earlier porch, has a timber frame with stud infill and a side-purlin roof.
The later east-end aisle is not square with the main structure and is topped by the hipped-end roof structure which is attached to the barn’s east-end principal truss. The later west-end aisle is constructed of machine-sawn imported softwood; the wall framing has been partially lined by later concrete render and the aisle is topped by lean-to trusses supported by pairs of struts with purlins and rafters above. There are further vertical posts which are attached to the main barn structure by iron ties. Where the west aisle extends slightly north, beyond the main barn structure, it has a queen-post roof and there is an internal partition covered by weatherboarding.
The aisle barn is supported internally by late-C20 diagonal timber restraints at the trusses, an early-C21 metal scaffold matrix and other props.
Sources:
Books and journals:
Page, F (ed), The Victoria History of the County of Buckinghamshire: Volume II, (1908), 320-327
Other:
Broughton Tithe Map and Apportionment, 1850
Jeffreys Map of Buckinghamshire, 1768
Oxley Conservation, 2012, Initial Assessment Report: Manor Farm Barn, Broughton Lane, Bierton with Broughton, Buckinghamshire
Tyers, Ian, 2010, Manor Farm Barn, Bierton with Broughton, Buckinghamshire: Dendrochronological Analysis of Oak Timbers, English Heritage Research Department Report Series 15-2010
Watkin, Brenda and Watkin, Elphin, 2007, Historic Analysis and Report on the Tithe Barn, Manor Farm, Broughton Nr Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire (B28).