Building record TQ 73 NE 328 - Barn at Hazelden Farm, Cranbrook

Late C16 / early C17 three-bay barn with central wagon way.

Building survey undertaken by Archaeology South East in 2009. 4 main periods of construction. The building was built c.1600 as a three-bay barn with a central wagon way and a gabled roof. It had a number of unusual architectural features. Sometime during the C17 / early C18 a cattle shed was added to the rear of the building. During the late C18 / early C19 the wall panels were replaced. A wagon porch was added and a cornhole was constructed. The eastern crop storage bay was converted to an oasthouse, and a drying floor was added. Sometime after a first floor was added to the western storage bay, which was subsequently removed. The drying floor and cornhole were removed, as has the cattle shed. A raised concrete floor has been added. (1)

A watching brief was carried out at The Barn, Hazelden Farm, Marden Road, Cranbrook, by Archaeology South-East in February 2011. Several post-medieval features were identified including a 20th century brick built platform which abutted the west wall of the porch, a wall footing (possibly contemporary with the late 18th-early 19th century oast-house conversion), and a drain post-dating the oast conversion The brick platform may have been used as a base for machinery associated with the later addition of grain silos, the construction of a rear extension, and the laying of concrete screed. The later drain may have been constructed with the change from hop production to stock accomodation. (2)

<1> Archaeology South-East, 2009, An Archaeological Interpretative Survey of Barn at Hazelden Farm, Cranbrook, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE17086.

<2> Archaeology South-East, 2012, Historic building survey of nine buildings at Hazelden Farm, Marden Road, Cranbrook, Kent/Report No 10/86. (Unpublished document). SKE55567.