2021 · Pevensey, East Sussex
The Granary, Pevensey
- Client
- Private — owner
- Era
- 17th century
- Listing
- Grade II
- Category
- Full restoration
- Completion
- 2021
- Disciplines
- Cob wall · Oak shingle roofing · Fire reinstatement
Photograph Tanya Barrow on Unsplash
A seventeenth-century granary partially destroyed by a 2019 fire. Rebuilt using cob for the damaged wall and oak shingles in place of the original thatch (a deliberate choice for fire resistance, approved by the conservation officer).
A kitchen fire in the neighbouring farmhouse in 2019 destroyed roughly 40% of the Granary's west wall and the entire roof. The building had stood for over three hundred years; the owners were determined it would stand for another three hundred.
Reconstructing the wall in the original cob — a raw-earth mixture of subsoil, straw, and water — was the obvious choice for authenticity. We mixed the cob on site using subsoil excavated from the owner's land and wheat straw from a neighbouring farm. The wall was built up in 600mm 'lifts' over six weeks, each lift allowed to cure before the next was added.
The roof was a different conversation. The original covering was long-straw thatch, which was lost entirely in the fire. After careful discussion with the conservation officer, we agreed that oak shingles were the right replacement — historically plausible (oak shingles predate thatch on many Sussex farm buildings), demonstrably more fire resistant, and sympathetic in weathered appearance. The shingles are quarter-sawn seasoned oak, hand-split, and fixed with copper nails in the traditional pattern.
“Fire is the only loss we cannot fully reverse. Everything we do after is a careful conversation about what the building can still be.”
Credits
- Project lead
- James Ashford, Dr Eleanor Pelham
- Cob
- Martha Greene, Tom Holloway
- Oak shingles
- Ben Fairweather, Rob Penfold
- Fire consent
- Wealden District Council