The White Place Farm Dutch Barns.

A Typical Dutch Barn.

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The Dutch barn in the picture above is typical of the Dutch barns of which there were two at White Place Farm, which have long since been dismantled from the farmyard. I will be going into the construction and history of Dutch barns in the next blog, but for now I will stick to the construction of the two which stood in the farmyard for the best part of 60 to 70 years.

Various types Dutch barns have been in existence on farms in England since the early 1800's. when corrugated galvanised iron was invented as a cheap form of roofing material. In some parts of the country the Dutch barn is also known as the French barn, mainly because of the ease of construction. In the early years, wooden telegraph poles were used as barn uprights with traditional truss and rafter construction being used to the roof. The sides of the barn were left open so that hay or straw was able to breathe and maintain good condition. Towards the end of the 1800's, steel I-beam uprights and girders became more practical to use, together with the introduction of the curved roof line that we know.