Building record BTY 058 - Bentley Hall Barn

Bentley Hall Barn is among the largest and most impressive timber-framed Elizabethan structures in Britain, extending to over 54 metres in length by 7.5 metres in width (177 feet by 24.5). It is of particular importance for the exceptionally rare survival of its original painted brick nogging. The southern end of the building contained a first-floor chamber of 17 metres in length (58 feet) lit by four windows with internally sliding shutters of which two retain original ‘diamond’ mullions. This space may have operated as a hall in which manorial courts, harvest celebrations and other entertainments were held, but the lower storey was sub-divided and probably formed a pair of stables. The remaining area to the north was a normal open barn with two western entrances and smaller doors to the rear. The carpentry and the fashionable ‘serpentine’ bracing which decorates the exterior suggest a date in the final quarter of the 16th century, and the barn was probably erected during a major refurbishment of the site in 1582 (S1).