Building record MDS 187 - Roper's Farm

The threshing barn is a timber-framed and weatherboarded structure with a corrugated iron roof that was thatched until the late-1940s, as shown in a photograph belonging to the present owner’sfamily. It consists of a small three-bay threshing barn of the late-16th or early-17th century with a fourth bay to the west and a gabled rear porch that were added in the 18th or early-19th century. The three-bay structure retains its original steeply-pitched roof of clasped-purlins with curved wind-braces, although its western gable was removed when the extension was built. The site underwent further refurbishment in the 1860s or 1870s when a complex of clay-lump animal sheds and yards was added to the barn and the framing of both gables was largely renewed. The barn’s northern entrance was both heightened and widened at much the same time and a new door post of this period bears the boldly carved names of the two individuals who may have been responsible for the work. Of the mid-19th century complex only a single-storied slate-roofed stable and shelter-shed adjoining the road survived further alterations in the mid-20th century, albeit stripped of its fixtures and fittings and converted into a milking parlour, dairy and vehicle shed (S1).