The Second World War saw a huge change in farming practices; large numbers of agricultural workers, horses and small tractors gave way to more mechanised farming employing increasingly larger farm machinery. Traditional stables, cart sheds, cattle hovels, granaries and barns were gradually replaced by larger steel or concrete framed buildings – countless beautiful traditional farm buildings gradually became redundant.
Many of these historic oak framed farm buildings were simply demolished, the old handmade roof tiles and bricks used as hardcore, and the oak timbers burnt. More generally, the buildings were left in place but their maintainence was neglected. Old cast iron guttering and down pipes failed or became clogged, rainwater was not channelled away and puddled against brick or stone plinth walls causing differential settlement, the wet softer ground on the exterior of the buildings causing them to lean outwards allowing the oak framing to spread and fail.
Maintenance of the traditional handmade clay tiled roofs was also neglected, broken tiles were not replaced and, most critically, as the nails in the roof tile battens began to rust through, whole areas of roof tiles would suddenly slide down the roof as the nails failed on mass.
This dilapidation was orchestrated across the country by the broadly simultaneous change in agricultural methods; the general neglect of maintenance aggravated by the huge costs required for renovation – for little practical return.
This general dilapidation became seriously apparent during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. At that time, most traditional old oak framed farm buildings were not protected by any planning regulations – buildings were being lost on an alarming scale.
In the late 1960s, a small group of enthusiasts, led by Dr J R Armstrong, was becoming increasingly concerned about this great loss of our rural heritage; in 1967 they founded the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, West Sussex. the aim being to salvage and relocate buildings, which would otherwise be lost. The museum continues to flourish, now under the name of The Weald & Downland Living Museum. It now has 50 relocated buildings on its site, and it is well worth a visit!
In 1968, Peter Barker met Roy Armstrong and, being an old buildings enthusiast, was hugely impressed with Roy’s plans for the museum – but immediately realised that, whilst the museum would be able to rescue a modest number of buildings, huge numbers would still be lost. The obvious thought was that many more could be saved if they could be relocated to other sites to be given a new lease of life. Essential to this thought was that each building must be relocated to a suitable location sympathetic to its style and that it should be sensitively reconstructed. Plainly, this could be done on a commercial basis.
And so it came to pass, as they say in the great book, Hunterswood Farm, in Dunsfold, was bought and the acquisition of redundant ancient oak barn frames began. The farm came with the benefit of some existing modern buildings, historically used as a builder’s yard and an ideal area for the storage of the dismantled frames and the multitude of miscellaneous salvaged historic building materials which come with each building.
The other benefit of the farm was that it came with a small turn of the 1900s bungalow.
It was time to put the idea into practice. Permission was obtained to replace the bungalow with a rebuilt oak framed barn as the new dwelling. Though listed, the barn’s splendid oak frame had stood roofless by a main road for many years and was to be demolished as part of a road widening scheme – the perfect building to demonstrate the philosophy of our intentions.
Our company, Antique Buildings Ltd was formed, and our stock of buildings grew at a fast rate. Some to be built here at Hunterswood Farm to create a pleasing group. A three-bay aisled cattle building as a playroom wing of the house, a four-bay oak framed stable building provides a home office, an open fronted three bay cattle shed provides open garaging, a four bay full height oak framed Sussex barn was restored and rebuilt just to be a barn again and an ‘L’ shaped cattle hovel built as guest accommodation and to form two sides of a new walled garden. The brick walls of the walled garden were reclaimed from an old farmyard wall which was being demolished. There are now six relocated oak frame buildings here which we are always pleased to show our clients and customers – very useful for ideas and to demonstrate how salvaged historic building materials may be used.
Very soon after our home works had commenced, our company started on similar projects for clients, successfully obtaining planning consents for the relocation of our rescued building frames. The difficulty of obtaining consents soon eased as we gained a reputation for the quality of our work and the sensitivity with which we rebuilt our buildings – many historic building design awards followed. We have now salvaged and relocated over 150 buildings.
In doing this work there are inevitably many buildings, brick and stone walls, stable paving bricks, handmade clay roof tiles, oak floorboards and old oak beams and structures which cannot be saved in their entirety. All of these items are carefully salvaged and brought back to our reclamation yard here at Dunsfold where they provide an invaluable resource of material essential to restoring and enhancing our building frames. A particular asset is our 100ft long timber storage barn where we store our reclaimed and salvaged oak beams and floorboards, dry and ready for re-use.
The yard area as a whole extends to over two acres and allows outside storage of our large stocks of reclaimed handmade bricks, handmade clay roof tiles, York stone paving, walling stone and such.
Having this huge stock of historic reclaimed architectural salvage materials lead to the founding of our ‘parts department’ under the name of ‘oakbeams.com’ which is open at any time for people to come and buy anything from a handful of bricks, a few paving slabs, an oak timber or enough timbers to create an oak beamed interior, 2” Tudor brick and a bressummer beam to create an inglenook fireplace or enough wide oak planks to create a whole new floor.
Having so many years’ experience in reusing our reclaimed materials we are pleased to offer ideas and advice to customers and clients as to how they might best be used on their own projects – and, having so many rebuilt buildings here on site, we can usually show examples of how we have used these items ourselves. This is especially helpful to customers who would like to see our reclaimed oak timbers or our wide oak floorboards used and laid for our own use.
We much look forward to seeing you here at Dunsfold.
The Second World War saw a huge change in farming practices; large numbers of agricultural workers, horses and small tractors gave way to more mechanised farming employing increasingly larger farm machinery. Traditional stables, cart sheds, cattle hovels, granaries and barns were gradually replaced by larger steel or concrete framed buildings – countless beautiful traditional farm buildings gradually became redundant.
Many of these historic oak framed farm buildings were simply demolished, the old handmade roof tiles and bricks used as hardcore, and the oak timbers burnt. More generally, the buildings were left in place but their maintainence was neglected. Old cast iron guttering and down pipes failed or became clogged, rainwater was not channelled away and puddled against brick or stone plinth walls causing differential settlement, the wet softer ground on the exterior of the buildings causing them to lean outwards allowing the oak framing to spread and fail.
Maintenance of the traditional handmade clay tiled roofs was also neglected, broken tiles were not replaced and, most critically, as the nails in the roof tile battens began to rust through, whole areas of roof tiles would suddenly slide down the roof as the nails failed on mass.
This dilapidation was orchestrated across the country by the broadly simultaneous change in agricultural methods; the general neglect of maintenance aggravated by the huge costs required for renovation – for little practical return.
This general dilapidation became seriously apparent during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. At that time, most traditional old oak framed farm buildings were not protected by any planning regulations – buildings were being lost on an alarming scale.
In the late 1960s, a small group of enthusiasts, led by Dr J R Armstrong, was becoming increasingly concerned about this great loss of our rural heritage; in 1967 they founded the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton, West Sussex. the aim being to salvage and relocate buildings, which would otherwise be lost. The museum continues to flourish, now under the name of The Weald & Downland Living Museum. It now has 50 relocated buildings on its site, and it is well worth a visit!
In 1968, Peter Barker met Roy Armstrong and, being an old buildings enthusiast, was hugely impressed with Roy’s plans for the museum – but immediately realised that, whilst the museum would be able to rescue a modest number of buildings, huge numbers would still be lost. The obvious thought was that many more could be saved if they could be relocated to other sites to be given a new lease of life. Essential to this thought was that each building must be relocated to a suitable location sympathetic to its style and that it should be sensitively reconstructed. Plainly, this could be done on a commercial basis.
And so it came to pass, as they say in the great book, Hunterswood Farm, in Dunsfold, was bought and the acquisition of redundant ancient oak barn frames began. The farm came with the benefit of some existing modern buildings, historically used as a builder’s yard and an ideal area for the storage of the dismantled frames and the multitude of miscellaneous salvaged historic building materials which come with each building.
The other benefit of the farm was that it came with a small turn of the 1900s bungalow.
It was time to put the idea into practice. Permission was obtained to replace the bungalow with a rebuilt oak framed barn as the new dwelling. Though listed, the barn’s splendid oak frame had stood roofless by a main road for many years and was to be demolished as part of a road widening scheme – the perfect building to demonstrate the philosophy of our intentions.
Our company, Antique Buildings Ltd was formed, and our stock of buildings grew at a fast rate. Some to be built here at Hunterswood Farm to create a pleasing group. A three-bay aisled cattle building as a playroom wing of the house, a four-bay oak framed stable building provides a home office, an open fronted three bay cattle shed provides open garaging, a four bay full height oak framed Sussex barn was restored and rebuilt just to be a barn again and an ‘L’ shaped cattle hovel built as guest accommodation and to form two sides of a new walled garden. The brick walls of the walled garden were reclaimed from an old farmyard wall which was being demolished. There are now six relocated oak frame buildings here which we are always pleased to show our clients and customers – very useful for ideas and to demonstrate how salvaged historic building materials may be used.
Very soon after our home works had commenced, our company started on similar projects for clients, successfully obtaining planning consents for the relocation of our rescued building frames. The difficulty of obtaining consents soon eased as we gained a reputation for the quality of our work and the sensitivity with which we rebuilt our buildings – many historic building design awards followed. We have now salvaged and relocated over 150 buildings.
In doing this work there are inevitably many buildings, brick and stone walls, stable paving bricks, handmade clay roof tiles, oak floorboards and old oak beams and structures which cannot be saved in their entirety. All of these items are carefully salvaged and brought back to our reclamation yard here at Dunsfold where they provide an invaluable resource of material essential to restoring and enhancing our building frames. A particular asset is our 100ft long timber storage barn where we store our reclaimed and salvaged oak beams and floorboards, dry and ready for re-use.
The yard area as a whole extends to over two acres and allows outside storage of our large stocks of reclaimed handmade bricks, handmade clay roof tiles, York stone paving, walling stone and such.
Having this huge stock of historic reclaimed architectural salvage materials lead to the founding of our ‘parts department’ under the name of ‘oakbeams.com’ which is open at any time for people to come and buy anything from a handful of bricks, a few paving slabs, an oak timber or enough timbers to create an oak beamed interior, 2” Tudor brick and a bressummer beam to create an inglenook fireplace or enough wide oak planks to create a whole new floor.
Having so many years’ experience in reusing our reclaimed materials we are pleased to offer ideas and advice to customers and clients as to how they might best be used on their own projects – and, having so many rebuilt buildings here on site, we can usually show examples of how we have used these items ourselves. This is especially helpful to customers who would like to see our reclaimed oak timbers or our wide oak floorboards used and laid for our own use.
We much look forward to seeing you here at Dunsfold.