•  1746: Battle of Culloden•  1750: Death of JS Bach•  1753: British Museum founded
New Barn and other farm buildings at Home Farm: 1746-1754
New Barn and associated farm-buildings, c1905. Photograph by Tom Pickard
New Barn and associated farm-buildings, c1905. Photograph by Tom Pickard
Steam threshing near New Barn (visible in the background). On the right is Harry Hastings, one-armed farm-labourer and village postman. Photograph by Tom Pickard, agent for the Glynde Estate, c1905
Steam threshing near New Barn (visible in the background). On the right is Harry Hastings, one-armed farm-labourer and village postman. Photograph by Tom Pickard, agent for the Glynde Estate, c1905
Plan of the kitchen gardens and the farmstead at New Barn, c1757
Plan of the kitchen gardens and the farmstead at New Barn, c1757
Owner
FromNameUntil
1746Glynde Estate?

When Richard Trevor, Bishop of Durham, was owner of the Glynde Estates, from 1743 to 1771, one of the first of the many projects he undertook at Glynde was the building of a new stable block at Glynde Place. However, before the stables could be built the site had to be cleared. William Wisdom recorded, in c1825, that The Barns belonging to the Great Farm stood formerly where the Place Stables now stand, as have heard my father say the little doors of one of the barns opened into the churchyard. The kitchen garden was in the lawn right east of the church. The present Gardens and Great Barns were built where they are now about the year 1750.

The barns stood where Glynde Place stables were to be built so, being timber framed, the barns were dismantled and moved to the western side of the road to a site that is still known as New Barn today. The barn was of quite a recent construction. The Glynde account books record in 1746:

May 27:paid John Elphick's bill for the Great Barn£1 10s 00d
Oct 24:paid William Weller for Plank Soals and laying the barn's floor, posts, rails, timber, carpenter's work, etc£40 03s 04d

In 1753 work began on dismantling and moving the Great Barn and associated buildings. The work was organised by Stone Tuppen and William Weller. Tuppen did not live in Glynde but often did work for the estate. Weller was a carpenter who kept the village inn at what are now Rambler, Rosemary and Orchard Cottages.

Tuppen drew up an agreement with Nicholas Hallhead, Richard Trevor's steward: That the said Stone Tuppen is carefully to take down a barn (consisting of four bays and an outlet at one of the heads thereof) and a lodge for cattle, with the racks, and to take down, and dig up the posts of, the fothering cribs; in a place called the Leases Close near to his Lordship's Mansion House of Glynd [sic] Place. And, in another farm yard intended to be made at a small distance, to put up again the said barn and lodge in their present form, save that there is to be added a fifth bay the same as the other four (instead of the outlet now at one end of the heads of the barn) and as many quarters as are at present below the entities of the upright parts of both the said buildings; putting in new ground cell all round, making one pair of new doors, great or small (as shall be thought most proper for the use of the farm) to the westward of the barn, when put up again; and also putting in new ground cell to the back side and ends of the lodge, and framing blocks upon the posts, to be set upon quoins, for the foreside thereof and putting in good sound timber in the places of whatever of it may be found defective, decayed, or any way unfit to be put up again. Setting and putting up the racks and cribs in their present form or any other form that does not require more labour for the doing thereof and setting up a well curb and in all things to perform his work in a proper workmanlike and substantial manner for which he is to receive the sum of twelve pounds. The same contract contained later clauses for the work to be carried out building the new stables.

A large part of the work done is shown in the estate account book on 20 November 1754:

To Tuppen and Weller taking down old barn and ox stall£10 04s 02d
Framing and hewing old timber to barn, cart horse stables and ox stall£67 04s 02d
making trusselstrestles for the bricklayers, etc£01 18s 00d
bill of days work about the barn, etc£44 11s 04d
sawyers' work1753£59 08s 10d
1754£18 04s 06d
£77 13s 04d
£201 11s 00d

£130 5s that had been paid to Tuppen and Weller "on account" on 31 December, 1753, was deducted from this amount.

The work involved a large amount of labour. The day bills (that is bills drawn up by Tuppen and Weller on a day by day basis to show what work the estate was paying for and who had done it) give a detailed record of who was employed in the work and the amount of time it took to complete. The task of "pulling down the barn" took two weeks in April and May, 1753, and another two days were spent "pulling down the [ox] stall". The men employed by Tuppen were "Heathe, Dean, my son John, my son Stone, Page, Peirce, Burges, Burten, Corden and Stone". With the possible exception of Burges none of these men appear to have lived in Glynde. All the men, including Stone Tuppen the elder, were paid two shillings a day and the one boy employed (Stone Tuppen the younger) was paid one shilling a day.

The total cost of the labour was £9 6s plus 8s 8d "to beer". Only Stone Tuppen the elder, his son Stone, Heathe and Deane worked for the full twelve days of the job.

Also included on this bill of Tuppen's was work done on 18 May, 1754:

Pulling downe ye old cart house for 1 days for my self and to sons£0 5s 0d
For 1 days work for Master Weller and a man£0 4s 0d
To beer6d
 £0 9s 6d

This last entry is for the only work that Weller appears to have contributed to this part of the operation. However, he was involved with the work of framing the "new" farm buildings.

Timber frame buildings were always measured, jointed and fitted on the ground. The timbers were then made into frames and raised into an upright position, where the frames were joined together by other, pre-cut and jointed, timbers. This process was known as framing and was measured by the square, an old carpenter's measure.

The day bill written by Weller and Tuppen "a framing ye barn and other buildings a bout ye farm" was for work done –

In 1753frameing ye barn13755
frameing ye stabell01806
frameing ye stall02797
in 1754frameing ye granary05017
frameing ye gardeners tool house01003
24378
24378 @ 5 shillings per square = £60 18s 9d

The work of finishing the buildings once they were erected employed twelve men for a varying number of days from 9 June, 1753, to 26 January 1754. Tuppen spent 75 days on this job and Weller did 70 days work, although neither of them worked more days than Heathe (77) or Stone Tuppen the younger (83). The other eight labourers worked between 61 days and 5 days each. The total cost of labour was £44 15s, again at 2 shillings per man per day, plus, of course, £1 19s 2d for beer.




New Barn and other farm buildings at Home Farm: Now

 

Listed under the Topic: Farming

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