Callow Farm

The front elevation of the newly repaired barn is shown here in its context with the farmhouse, which has an expressed ancient cruck frame on the gable which could be as early as 12th century.

The barn doors are set back against the frame and may be used as shutters. They are very handsome pieces of joinery; note the five diminishing rails and braces to each leaf and the absence of a swinging stile (vertical rail) on the outer edge of the door to reduce weight.

The barn is a small 3 bays structure with a centrally located cart entrance bay. Mezzanines have been inserted into both the end bays with an elevated walkway (allowing access over the tie beams of the trusses) connecting the two areas. This is a light touch conversion that does much to retain the open character of the barn.

We fabricated and installed the four columns you see here supporting the mezzanine. Jointing cruciform galvanised steel plate to the column heads and bases and counter boring the fixings (leaving them exposed but set just below the surface) gives an unfussy, contemporary look.

The combination of the polished concrete floor, plain white decorated surfaces and insertion of new materials such as sandblasted Oak, galvanized steel and the glass balustrade, creates an appealing juxtaposition with the rugged beams of the original structure.

We do not recommend sandblasting historic frames as this destroys the patina of the beams as well as the assembly marks, and sometimes other fine cut marks, which may be part of a code cut by the master carpenter instructing his team as to what joints he required.

This picture taken from the gallery gives one of the best views of the historic carpentry. The roof structure is a little unusual with twin purlins used in an unusual configuration. The lower purlin is threaded between the two truss rafters, the curved inner ‘curb rafter’ and the straight outer rafter, whereas the upper purlin is clasped at the junction of the collar to the truss rafter.

You can see in this picture that we had to replace quite a number of the original rafters with fresh sawn oak, as many of the softwood round pole scantlings were badly damaged by beetle. This is something we are reluctant to do unless absolutely necessary and the original rafters are deemed unserviceable.

Good design decisions make a difference; here the glass balustrading does much to lighten the appearance of the galleries and staircase, lessening their impact on the space and setting off the frame nicely.