Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1330 to 1370

Monument Types

• SITE (Medieval - 1330 AD to 1370 AD) + Sci.Date

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
FAVERSHAM ABBEY FIELDS TR 0261 8/191 Minor barn on south side of yard to south south east of Abbey Farmhouse
the entry shall be amended to read:
TR 0261 FAVERSHAM ABBEY FIELDS 8/191 Faversham Abbey Minor barn
GV I
Monastic barn. Circa 1350. Originally part of the royal abbey at Faversham. Now of 5 bays, a map of 1774 shows that it originally continued to the end of the yard but was cut off at the west end subsequently. Aisled timber barn, clad in weatherboarding on flint and brick plinth with tiled roof,hipped to east and gabled to west. At time of survey part of the tiles at the west end had been stripped by vandals. Central C18 hipped cart entrance. All passing braces are present and aisle posts have arch braces and rest on shored plinths. An unusual feature is that 3 posts are not squared at their bases but present untrimmed trunks, with untrimmed forks supporting the posts on two legs. West end has terminal outshot and shored axial post. Rafters suggest that east end also once had a cantilevered half bay and outshot. Roof has 5 chamfered crownposts, 3 having 4 headbraces and 2 having 2. Complete set of original rafters. Thought to be one of only two surviving collar purlin and crownpost roof barns of the middle period in Kent by S E Rigold. [ See "Some Major Kentish Timber Barns" S E Rigold in Arch. Cant. LXXXI (1966).]
ABBEY FIELDS 1. 1103 TR 0261 8/191 Minor barn on south side of yard to south south east of Abbey Farmhouse GV II*
Barn. Probably early to mid-C15 with minor later alterations. Weatherboarded timber frame on stone rubble plinth. Large plain tile roof, the right hand (north) end hipped, the left hand end is now gabled.
Plan: 5-bay aisled barn originally with aisles at both ends but the left east end aisle has been removed. The narrow centre bay has a cart entrance at the front.
Exterior: Large plain tile hipped roof is carried down over the aisles to low walls, clad in weatherboarding except at the left (east) end which is gabled. The north front has a cart entrance to the left of centre with boarded double doors and a circa C17 hipped canopy on curved braces.
Interior: Fine crown-post roof of large scantling has tall chamfered and stopped crown-posts with curved braces; the crown-posts on either side of the centre bay and at the ends have braces at the top on all four sides to the purlin and collar but the crown-posts between have only longitudinal braces. Arch braces from the arcade posts to the tie-beams and arcade plates. Curved passing shores halved and lapped to the aisle ties. The arcade posts have jowled heads and the post between bays 1 and 2 at the front (north east) has a massive forked branch downward curving into the aisle. The common rafters appear to be complete and there is no ridgepiece, but the gable over the cart entrance has a later common rafter roof with a ridge board.
Note: Abbey Farm probably belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of Faversham founded in 1147.
Source: Traditional Kent Buildings (1988), No. 6, p. p. 16-27. (2)
ABBEY FIELDS
1. 1103 Barn along South side of Yard to South east of Abbey Farmhouse TR 0261 8/191 II
2. Late C15. Aisled barn. 5 bays and 1 end bay. In a complete state. Crown post roof. Externally, very low, very steeply pitched modern tiled roof; low walls with weather-boarded cladding. AM.
Listing NGR: TR0212761732

Dendrochronology dating gave a date of c.1426. (3-4)

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 2001, Conservation Plan for Abbey Farm, Faversham, Kent and the surrounding land (Unpublished document). SKE17447.

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> Julia Bennett and Anthony Blackwell, 1988, Abbey Farm, Faversham (Bibliographic reference). SKE17404.

<3> Vernacular Architecture Group, ADS Dendrochronology Database, Vol. 30, Pg. 93 (Website). SKE17391.

<4> English Heritage, 1998, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from the Major and Minor Barns at Abbey Farm, Faversham, Kent (Unpublished document). SWX6797.

Sources and further reading