Restoration of the Granary at Hill Farm Barns, Thursley

In 1990, Hill Farm Barns, opposite the Church on Highfield Lane in Thursley, was purchased as a derelict farmyard comprising an assortment of redundant agricultural buildings. Photographs courtesy of Mike Spencer.

Aerial photograph showing the Hill Farm Barn complex. This must have been taken before November 1977 when the giant Chestnut tree in the churchyard was brought down in a storm.

The complex included a main threshing barn, a three-bay cart shed, an old piggery and cow shed, and a small detached granary standing on traditional staddle stones near the north-east corner of the site.

The Granary, clad in corrugated iron, before the site was acquired. (THS archive)

Original Condition (1991)

At the time of purchase, the granary was in a state of advanced decay. The original weatherboard cladding had long since deteriorated, and the structure was enclosed in sheets of corrugated iron to keep it standing. The staddle stones supporting the raised timber floor remained in place, though the frame itself was distorted and partially rotted.

 The granary covered in corrugated iron prior to dismantling.

Dismantling and Storage

In 1991 the structure was carefully dismantled. Sound timbers were numbered, recorded, and transported to Suffolk for storage and eventual restoration by a specialist in historic timber framing. The intention from the outset was to retain the original material wherever possible and to return the structure to its original position once repair became feasible.

The repaired granary frame re-erected in Suffolk prior to cladding.

Reconstruction of the Frame in Suffolk

The salvaged frame remained in Suffolk for many years. Around 2015, the craftsman responsible for its care wanted to retire, and instructions were given for the structure to be repaired and re-erected. Before this work was fully completed, sadly he passed away, leaving his son, together with an assistant, to complete the task of reassembling the granary’s oak frame.

The same firm worked on other parts of Hill Farm Barns: this photograph shows the green oak repairs to the roof of the cow barn in their Suffolk workshop.

Re-erection at Hill Farm Barns

In 2022, after over thirty years since it was first dismantled, the restored granary returned to Thursley. It was reinstalled on its original staddle stones in the same corner of the Hill Farm Barns site. The frame was re-clad in the traditional manner using feather-edged boarding and reclaimed clay roof tiles in keeping with the other restored buildings on the property.

The completed granary at Hill Farm Barns (2022).

Significance

The reinstated granary represents the final phase of a 35-year programme of conservation and restoration to preserve the agricultural group at Hill Farm Barns. Its return has reinstated an important element of the traditional farmstead layout - an elevated granary on staddle stones, once essential to the working life of the holding and now an authentic component of the site’s historic character.