Grade II Listed Barn Restoration

The Stablemanager glanced up when she heard a creak in one corner of the building. Having worked in the barn stables for many years, she instinctively sensed something was wrong. She immediately arranged for the building to be evacuated as a precaution. The staff were so swift that all driving ponies and a large amount of agricultural equipment were out of the building in less than three minutes. 

Her intuition was right, a peg had been dislodged in the far corner of the roof. Luckily the roof did not collapse. 

The barn now awaits maintenance and/or restoration, using our own timber from our sustainably managed forests. It will be a fabulous project to undertake and plans are underway. 

The barn is small and is in a very cramped space when compared with several other very similar barns in the local area. The main reason the barn is cramped is because there are several concrete and asbestos agricultural buildings that abut right up against the barn on its North side. So, if we decide to fully restore the barn, we may have to consider taking these concrete barns down and be forced to build them elsewhere Immediately. 

This is a very difficult decision to make as these concrete barns are used to store several thousand bales of our Clandon Park hay. Also, the concrete barns would need to be built elsewhere and this may prove problematic as their current position is ideal for loading and unloading this important commercial crop. 

Somehow, planning to use our own timber to restore the barn (produced from our sustainably managed forests), seems right. We have always used our timber for maintenance, restoration and conservation projects at Clandon Park in the past. Also, our thinking is, why import the necessary timber when we grow the timber that is needed, and,  it is highly likely that the barn was built from our own home grown timber. 

Through our sustainable forestry initiative we have often provided timber for other major conservation management Plan projects for other Estates when requested. For example, when Windsor Castle was severely damaged by fire in 1992, the 7th Earl of Onslow offered Oaks from the Clandon Park sustainably managed forests to restore it. At that time several Oak trees had been recently felled and were being seasoned and several other Oaks were due to be felled that year, so many Oaks were sent to help to restore Windsor Castle. 

To undertake the Grade II Listed Barn Restoration we would obviously have to gain Listed Building Consent, choose the timber carefully when thinning this year, season the timber properly and ensure the work is carried out by Listed building specialists. We are also planning to involve students of Archectecture from a University in the project. It will be an exciting project and a necessary one. 

We will be starting with the basic maintenance of the barn prior to tackling any major or structural work. The building is needed to home Lady Onslow's Livestock and store a large amount of Lord Onslow'a agricultural equipment again in the near future. 

Whatever option we choose to take we expect the project to be completed by 2025 subject to the restrictions placed upon us by the current pandemic.