Building record 0012402000 - BARN AT NEW MANOR FARM

Grade II+. Barn. Aisle post probably late C12th (c1174), the timber is probably reused, re-roofed in early C18 with C19 cart entrance, lean-to at west end and rafters. Timberframed barn, clad in weatherboarding with old tiled roof, hipped to west and half-hipped to east. Gabled C19 cart entrance in centre of north wall. Five bay aisled barn, but judging from the carpenters' marks on the aisle posts (III to VIII) there was at least one further truss on the east to the original structure and it is not known whether there were further trusses on the west. Interior has south aisle retaining all aisle posts with passing braces. North aisle retains one complete passing brace and the top part of another two aisle posts. The upstands of the aisle posts have been compared by Cecil Hewitt to the Wheat Barn at Cressing which he dates between 1257 and 1290 (P105 'English Historic Carpentry' 1980). Aisle posts have curved braces to arcade plates and tiebeams. Passing braces from aisle wall posts morticed to underside of main tiebeams, passing across the aisle ties and posts. Roof has early C18 queenposts, through purlins, collar beam, some curved windbraces and inserted ridgepiece. Two bays to the south and one bay to the north have C19 purlins and the lean-to on the west is C19. [See Ian Tyers 'Interim report on the tree-ring analysis of Manor Farm Barn, Bierton with Broughton, Buckinghamshire.' University of Sheffield 1995] (B8).
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 (B10-14,B16,B19,B20, B22-26).
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).