Description

BARLEY CHURCH END
TL 4038 (North side)
Barley

8/72 The Town House
9.6.52

GV II*

Formerly the Guildhall or Church House, used as a marriage feast room,
free school, almshouses and for other public purposes; now a village
hall. Early C16, altered c.1853 and c.1910. Built by the Gild of St.
Catherine. Timber frame on brick base. Plastered. Steeply pitched tiled
roof. 4 bays, that to left larger. 2 storeys. Continuous jetty to front
with curved brackets to main bearers. Ground floor: 3 mid C19 entrances
with plank and muntin doors, 4 centred arched heads, architraves, 4 two
light lattice casements. First floor: 2 mid C19 8 light mullion and
transom hipped half dormers, two 3 light casements. At each end of this
elevation are enclosed external staircases, mid C19 to right, early C20
to left, with roofs swept down from main slope, 4 centred arched
entrances with gabled heads. Inner returns have subsidiary doors beneath
stairs, upper quatrefoil lights on all return faces. Left gable end
massive original stack, exposed red brick with multiple coped offsets,
originally external, built out to front in early C20 with ground floor
flint and brick cladding. To rear a short lean-to, exposed plate and
purlin. A similar stack at right end has been incorporated into Kirk
Cottage (q.v.), exposed plate and purlin to front. To rear lattice
casements and a late C19 2 storey gabled wing with an open ground floor,
extruded red brick stack, 2 storey flat roofed addition. Interior:
ground floor exposed framing of large scantling, close studding, jowled
posts. Through passage to left of centre. Trimmer joist for original
stairs. Original shutter grooves and mullion seatings. Axial and cross
"axial chamfered bearers with carved foliate stops. Run out stop
chamfered bearer in left bay. Upper chamber: jowled posts, some arched
braces to chamfered cambered tie beams, collars to halved principals
clasping purlins. Curved windbraces, ogee to front slope only.
Continuous public use confirmed in inquests of 1609 and 1638.(RCHM 1910:
VCH 1914: J. Wilkerson, Two Ears of Barley, 1969: S.E. Rigold, The Town
House, Barley: Hertfordshire Archaeology, vol.3, 1973, p.94: Pevsner
1977: J. Wilkerson, Barley: An English Village,1979: RCHM Typescript).

Listing NGR: TL4013438441

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17555267

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)