Summary
Former barn, C16, now in residential use.
Reasons for Designation
Oak Barn, formerly part of Manor Farm, Ash Green, Surrey, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as four bays of an impressively-framed C16 porched barn.
Historic interest
* as part of a farmstead associated with Ash Manor, a moated site with medieval origins.
Group value:
* with The Oast House and Ash Manor Oast (both listed at Grade II), and Ash Manor and Old Manor Cottage (both at listed Grade II*) .
History
Oak Barn, now in residential use, formed part of the farm associated with Ash Manor, known as Manor Farm. It probably dates from the C16 and is just over four bays of what might have been a seven-bay barn. The double-height porch now marks its most easterly bay. The building was first listed in 1984, and in 1987 it was recorded by the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey) (DBRG(S)). At this time it was still unconverted.
The site of Ash Manor is believed to have been occupied since the C13, at which time it was owned by Chertsey Abbey. At the Dissolution it became the property of the Crown and in the late 1540s was granted to St Mary’s College Winchester (Winchester College) which owned it for nearly 400 years.
C19 maps of Ash Manor show the agricultural buildings associated with the farm arranged around a courtyard to the south of the main house (which is listed Grade II*). The south end of an oast house, with its adjoining stables at right angles (also listed Grade II), forms the north end of the courtyard. The barn is on the south side of the courtyard. The rest of the south side of the courtyard, including part of the barn, and the east side of the courtyard, have now been lost.
Winchester College sold Ash Manor in 1925, and it was sold again in 1934 to Maurice Kelly of Kelly’s Directories. Following Kelly’s bankruptcy and suicide in 1948, the house was divided into two and both were sold on. The farm buildings remained in agricultural use until their conversion in the late C20.
Details
Barn, probably C16, converted to residential use in the late C20.
MATERIALS: the building is of oak-framed construction, the walls are clad in late-C20 dark-stained weatherboard over a red brick plinth and the roof is tiled. Windows are timber.
PLAN: the building is L-shaped in footprint, the orientation of the main range running east to west. Its former porch faces north and is now at the east end of the building, forming the foot of the ‘L’. An unknown number of bays, possibly three, have been lost at the east end of the barn. The building is four-and-a-bit bays wide: the east end wall, now with a large chimney stack, was built just beyond the frame of the fourth bay. On the south elevation, opposite the porch is a large full-height glazed opening, presumably marking the original location of the threshing bay doors.
Following its conversion to residential use, a first floor has been added to the porch and two bays of the barn; a gallery has been inserted along the north side of the two other bays.
EXTERIOR: the building’s exterior character is defined by black weatherboarding, the large tiled roof, and red brick plinth. It is fairly sparsely fenestrated, with an irregular arrangement of differently-sized windows. The main entrance is to the north, next to the porch.
INTERIOR: the building’s interior is dominated by the impressive oak frame, which is principally where its special interest lies. It has queen post trusses, clasped purlins, and curved bracing to the tie beams and curved wind-bracing in the roof. Carpenters’ marks are visible on some of the timbers. There is evidence in the framing of various phases of alteration or modification for different forms of use, these are discussed in the DBRG(S) report.
The two east bays remain open to the roof, but with a gallery and two flights of stairs which give access to the first floor of the porch and the first floor of the two bays to the west. The west bays are subdivided at first floor to provide bedrooms and bathrooms. The fittings and finishes within the barn all appear to date from its conversion to domestic use.
