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Paul's Farm Oast
Similar in external layout to Ramshurst, the barn at Paul’s Farm Oast is some 5 ft. longer and the
roundels 2-3 ft. taller. Before conversion in 1986, the original, yet somewhat decrepit, gantry
stretched across the rear elevation. Sadly this did not survive the extensive works necessary to
stabilise the brick barn which, in its original form, had no foundations. The building is actually
labelled as an oast on the 1841 map and appears on the 1870 OS map again with one roundel.
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Whilst the southern (older) roundel is the usual 20 ft. in diameter, the northern (newer) one is 2 ft. narrower. The relative ages are shown by the fact that two different bricks have been used: the newer darker bricks have been used to heighten the older roundel by some 2ft. which suggests that the original height was in line with the previous two oast-houses described (it seems that over the 19th century, roundels became slightly narrower and taller). The brickwork is in Flemish Garden Wall bond. Angled dentelles only appear on the newer roundel even though the older one appears to have been extended by the builder of the newer one. |
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| For the conversion, Iroko hardwood was used for all the window frames, again frowned upon but not resisted by the conservationists who prefer stained softwood joinery which they believe more closely replicates the original style. Internally, one roundel has been left open right up to the upper floor just below the cowls and once again the cross beams in the barn have been left exposed, adding to the character of the property. The aperture at the base of the roof is where the steps from the drying floor arrived under cover of a short pitched roof known as a ‘cricket’, rather appropriately reflecting the interests of one of its current owners! | The original hop press has been preserved and re-erected in the garden on the north side the property. It would appear to be the only working example left in Leigh. It is a wooden-framed press with a cast-iron rack-and-pinion mechanism produced by William Weeks and Son of Maidstone who supplied presses to most of the Weald farmers. |