Long Byre, The Old Workshop and The Quoin, Bisley, Gloucestershire

Summary

A range of former shelter sheds, constructed in the early C19, converted to three residential units in the late 1980s – Long Byre, The Old Workshop and The Quoin. The late-C20 and early-C21 internal finishes and modern partition walls are excluded. The late-C20 link building and garage attached at the eastern end of The Quoin are also excluded.

Description

MATERIALS
Local limestone rubble, some squared and roughly brought to course, with limestone piers and slates, and timber and glazing infill.

PLAN
A long, narrow rectangular range running east-west; at the eastern end a short infill range links the building with a late-C20 garage block to the south-east.

EXTERIOR
The building is single storey, with converted attic space. The former shelter shed range is of thirteen bays, divided by monolithic limestone piers, which are chamfered and have plain limestone caps and bases. One bay, forming the western bay of The Quoin, has a short length of stone rubble walling. The main elevation, to the south, has various infill treatments between the piers, principally glazed timber, creating windows and door openings. The gable ends have raised, coped verges rising to ball finials. The rear is blind except for a pair of small retained single-light windows under the eaves approximately centrally, with external grilles; the rear roof slope houses a number of irregularly-spaces roof lights. The roof is covered in Cotswold stone slates laid in diminishing courses. The eastern end of the building has a blocked opening at attic level, with a stone lintel and stone dressings.

LONG BYRE
The main elevation of Long Byre is of six bays, and has a mixture of full-height glazed sections, with timber surrounds, and horizontally-laid weatherboarding between the limestone piers. A stainless steel flue emerges from the front roof slope towards the western end.

THE OLD WORKSHOP
This section is of three bays, the infill wholly of glazed timber doors and windows. To the eastern end part of the stone rubble wall marks the end of the third bay, and continues across into what is now The Quoin.

THE QUOIN
The Quoin also has wholly glazed timber infill, a mixture of doors and windows. It is of four bays, the last obscured by the link, which joins its south elevation to the late-C20 garage block by means of a square-plan, single-storey infill range, linking the former shelter shed range to the rear of a block of modern garages. Above the garage is a gable with a circular window, and a door and window to the ground floor. A small, timber-framed lean-to stands against the eastern end of the infill block and extends across part of the eastern gable end wall of the main range.

INTERIOR
The building has been divided into three dwellings, with an inserted floor at the height of the wall plate, so that the first floors are wholly contained within the attic space. The roof trusses are formed from paired principal rafters, which are overlapped and pegged at the apex, with tie beams and two rows of purlins, which are trenched. Some of the timbers have been defrassed [scraped to remove surface damage by wood-boring insects], and have then been painted or varnished, giving them a more recent appearance, but the construction and scantling indicate that they are the original roof structure. The remaining structure and layout dates largely from the late-C20 conversion to dwellings.

LONG BYRE
The ground floor has narrow, exposed beams and chamfered joists. There is a staircase at either end of the house; the ground floor has an open living space, a bedroom and bathroom; above are three further bedrooms and a bathroom. The main living space has a narrow rubble-stone chimney breast on an internal wall, with a chamfered timber bressumer over a small fireplace housing a woodburning stove. All the finishes date from the late-C20 conversion. The late-C20 and early-C21 internal finishes and modern partition walls are not of special interest and do not warrant protection.

THE OLD WORKSHOP
The ground floor is divided into two rooms, with exposed beams and joists similar to those in Long Byre. There are a bedroom and bathroom to the first floor. All the finishes date from the late-C20 conversion. The late-C20 and early-C21 internal finishes and modern partition walls are not of special interest and do not warrant protection.

THE QUOIN
The main living space has two narrow, exposed beams, and a rubble-stone chimney breast on the rear wall, with a timber bressumer over a wide fireplace housing a woodburning stove. The first floor is divided into two bedrooms and a bathroom. Some of the joints between the principal rafters and purlins have been strengthened with metal supports. All the finishes date from the late-C20 conversion. The late-C20 and early-C21 internal finishes and modern partition walls are not of special interest and do not warrant protection. The late-C20 link building and the garage which it adjoins are also excluded from the listing.

History

The former shelter sheds were constructed in the early C19, as part of a group of agricultural buildings associated with Rectory Farm. The long range of open-fronted sheds, and a large tithe barn just to the south, are shown in their present form on the tithe map of 1841, at which time they were in the ownership of Thomas Mills Goodlake Esq and William Hopson Esq, and occupied by Hopson and Thomas Blanch. The plot is described as Barns, Sheds etc, in the contemporary tithe apportionment. A photograph dating from 1944 shows the sheds in use, with a rubble stone wall enclosing one bay, and some further weatherboarding. Parts of the range were used variously as a dairy and forge. The sheds, constructed as a single 13-bay range, were listed in 1987, by which time they were partly enclosed as a workshop and garage. Soon afterwards, the building was converted, in two phases, into three separate residential units, now known as Long Byre, The Old Workshop and The Quoin. An extension was also added at the eastern end of the range, to link the part known as The Quoin to a newly-built garage en bloc, whose upper floor was arranged as an additional bedroom.

Reasons for Listing

The former shelter shed, now Long Byre, The Old Workshop and The Quoin, dating from the early C19, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a formerly open-fronted shelter shed of unusually long form, with thirteen bays separated by monolithic limestone piers;
* it has some architectural pretensions despite the inherent modesty of the building type, with high, coped verges and ball finials at the apexes;
* although converted to three dwellings, the conversion is sensitive to the character of the historic building, which remains fully legible.

Historic interest:
* in its use of local materials and traditional techniques, in particular the very large limestone piers and Cotswold stone slates laid in diminishing courses.

External Links

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