Barn Record Cornwall

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Building Name (Common)
Kenniston Barn
Building Name (Historic)
Kenniston Barn
Address
25 Bunker Hill Road (Rte 4), Cornwall
Typology
Overview

Designations

Historic Significance

Architectural description:

This is a 1 1/2-story eave-entry, bank barn. The main facade faces northwest and the ridge-line of the barn runs perpendicular to this portion of Bunker Hill Road, which runs northwest-southeast. The main entry is a pair of X-braced, exterior sliding doors in the middle of three bays in the northwest eave-facade of the main barn. The entry is accessed by an earthen ramp with a poured concrete top. The grade to north and west of the entry decline, revealing the basement level. On each side of the entry in the basement level are four six-pane windows. The rest of the facade is blank. The northeast gable-end of the barn is blank except for a vent just beneath the apex of the roof and a broken-pitched roof addition extending to the northeast. The sides of the broken-pitched roof addition are flush with the eave sides of the main barn. Extending to the northeast from the west side of the broken-pitched roof addition is a gable-roofed addition with open bays on the east eave-side. The southeast eave-side of the main barn appears to have a single six-pane window off-center to the north on the main level and a series of six-pane windows in the basement level with a centered pass-through door. The southwest gable-end of the main barn is blank except for a vent just beneath the apex of the roof and a broken-pitched roof addition extending to the southwest. A poured concrete silo appears to be attached to the west corner of the barn in the southeast eave-side. The barn have vertical siding on the eave-sides and in the gable attic, the rest of the gable-ends are horizontal clapboard siding. The barn is painted red. Centered atop the ridge of the roof is a gable-roofed cupola. The roof as projecting overhangs and is covered with asphalt shingles.


Historical significance:

The oldest barns still found in the state are called the “English Barn,” “side-entry barn,” “eave entry,” or a 30 x 40. They are simple buildings with rectangular plan, pitched gable roof, and a door or doors located on one or both of the eave sides of the building based on the grain warehouses of the English colonists’ homeland. The name “30 by 40” originates from its size (in feet), which was large enough for 1 family and could service about 100 acres. The multi-purpose use of the English barn is reflected by the building’s construction in three distinct bays - one for each use. The middle bay was used for threshing, which is separating the seed from the stalk in wheat and oat by beating the stalks with a flail. The flanking bays would be for animals and hay storage.

Connected barns tied all of the functions of a farmstead - home, hearth, workplace and barn - into a series of linked buildings. This is the “big house, little house, back house, barn” of nursery rhymes.

The 19th century saw the introduction of a basement under the barn to allow for the easy collection and storage of a winter’s worth of manure from the animals sheltered within the building. The bank barn is characterized by the location of its main floor above grade, either through building into a hillside or by raising the building on a foundation. This innovation, aided by the introduction of windows for light and ventilation, would eventually be joined by the introduction of space to shelter more animals under the main floor of the barn.

Field Notes

Listed on the State Register of Historic Places 12/04/2013. 2009 Barns Grant pre-app.

Use & Accessibility

Use (Historic)

Use (Present)


Exterior Visible from Public Road?

1

Demolished

n/a

Location Integrity

Unknown

Environment

Related features

Environment features

Relationship to surroundings

The barn is beside and to the south of the house it is associated with. The ridge-line of the house is parallel to the ridge-line of the barn. A driveway runs from the road to the southwest, separating the two. To the west of the barn is a gable-roofed open bayed barn. To the southwest ans south of the barn is a large tract of open space. To the west of the house is a tract of open space. To the southwest of the barn is a tract of open space used for agriculture. The area surround the site is active agriculture, open space, light residential and woodland.

Typology & Materials

Building Typology

Materials


Structural System

Roof materials


Roof type


Approximate Dimensions

n/a

Source

Date Compiled

12/02/2010

Compiled By

Todd Levine, reviewed by the Connecticut Trust

Sources

Photographs by Todd Levine - 09/21/2006 - and Alec Frost.

Map of West Cornwall, CT, retrieved on December 2, 2010 from website www.zillow.com.

Sexton, James, PhD; Survey Narrative of the Connecticut Barn, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Hamden, CT, 2005, http://www.connecticutbarns.org/history.

Visser, Thomas D.,Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings, University Press of New England, 1997.


PhotosClick on image to view full file