Issue 47 JUNE - Flipbook - Page 94
The Cowshed
The Cowshed is a Grade II listed,17th century barn comprising a single-storey cowshed and
a two-storey bull-pen with hayloft above. Located in a conservation area and within the
Cotswolds National Landscape.
The building is Grade II listed, and lies within the
curtilage of several other listed buildings, including the
former farmhouse to the north. The barns form part of a
complex of agricultural buildings that were historically
under the same ownership as the main house, Porch
Cottage. Over the years the house was subdivided and
one of the barns was sold off for conversion, which has
resulted in the original courtyard being fragmented due
to different ownerships and phases of conversion of the
barns. The brief was to convert the remaining barn into
a small residential dwelling that was separate from the
main house.
were no stones, so the conclusion was that they had been
deliberately removed.
A conservation-led design approach was used to sensitively convert the barn. The small-scale nature of the
building and the sensitive nature of the historic fabric
were the key design constraints. The proposed design concept involved uniting both sides of the barn by inserting
a timber pod structure into the fabric of the listed building.
This new pod mitigated the level change and acted as a
division between the bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as
housing the new staircase to the first floor. Making use of
the limited space in the two-storey element of the barn
proved challenging; the master ensuite bathroom was
tucked under the eaves with the shower suspended over
the stair, creating compact but characterful spaces.
The barn had been subjected to a number of insensitive
alterations which had eroded some of its significance;
however, the main issue to overcome was the building’s
structural condition. At some point in the barn’s history
the eaves line along the front had been lowered, causing
the primary trusses to be tilted at a dramatic angle. It is
not clear why the eaves were lowered, but it certainly was
an intentional act. The typical detail for the base of a post
in an agricultural setting would be a padstone to prevent
the bottom of the post rotting away. In this case, there
One interesting construction challenge was the necessity
to “lift” the front elevation of the single-storey structure
to create an entrance into the barn. This was achieved
by replacing the missing padstones, and repairing the
bases of the historic elm posts and thereby reinstating the
historic appearance of the barn.
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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