Ruislip: Manor Farm Great Barn

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 16 May 2010

This is possibly the earliest timber-framed building in Greater London dating from about 1280, and this is the east façade. It is a Grade II* Listed Building and the English Heritage website describes it thus, citing as its source a report by Cecil Hewett entitled 'The Great Barn, Manor Farm', published by the Ruislip, Northwood and Eastcote Local History Society in 1980:- "Aisled barn c. 1300, partially rebuilt in late C17 or C18. 7 bays. Overall dimensions 102 x 32 ft. Aligned North-South. Weatherboarded with hipped tiled roof. Brick and flint rubble plinth. Entrance in centre of west wall: evidence for a former entrance in opposite position in east wall. Side walls have been rebuilt and raised. Roof has been rebuilt to include principal trusses and two tiers of side purlins. Upper purlins clasped between collars. Lower purlins staggered and tenoned into principal rafters. Raking queen struts between tie beams and principal rafters. Common rafters mainly reused in their present positions and may date from primary phase of construction. The cross frames have passing braces between the main tie beams and aisle tie beams. An open, notched lap joint between the main tie beams and aisle tie beams. Originally the passing braces extended down to meet the aisle walls. Arcade posts have flared heads. Straight, square-section braces between the arcade posts and tie beams and arcade plates. Angle ties between tie beams and arcade plates. Short dragon pieces between the angle ties and the corner posts carry the feet of the hip rafters. Arcade plates with different types of scarf joints, the earliest of which has been dated by Hewett to C13. The upper (i.e. finished) face of each cross frame is addressed towards the south. Carpenter's marks take the form of long, inscribed Roman numerals. Evidence that in the early building the aisle wall plates passed above the aisle tie beams is a technique known as reversed assembly. An outstanding example of an early timber-frame aisled barn. comparable to the great barns at Cressing Temple and Coggeshall in Essex. Probably the earliest surviving timber framed building in the Greater London area."

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0