Barn West of Manor Farmhouse, Diddington, St Neots. Building Recording (OASIS ID: kdkarcha1-320902)

In July 2018, Historic Building Recording was carried out at the barn west of Manor Farmhouse, Diddington, St Neots, Cambridgeshire in order to fulfil a condition of planning permission for the conversion of the existing building into a dwelling. The farm has been part of the Thornhill estate since the 18th century and the barn in question may have been constructed on the site around the time that the land was acquired by the Thornhill family. It was an estate farm belonging to Diddington Hall, the site of the medieval Grimbald's or Grimbaud's Manor. The barn is a five bay timber framed structure dating to the late 17th or early 18th century. It has primary bracing, jowlposts and is weatherboarded. There is a queen strut roof, but the tiles have been removed. The inside of the building has a half height brick wall, built in the 20th century, which encompasses some of the timberwork behind. The southern end of the barn was sectioned off and given an upper floor in the 19th century. This is accessed by a staircase in the northeast corner. The other bays are partitioned from one another with modern timber. Within the central bay are the remains of a small brick structure of uncertain function that appears to have been built and demolished in the 20th century. Although the barn has been altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, much of its original fabric remains. Of particular interest is the high number of carpenters and apotropaic marks on several of the larger timbers.