There has been a barn on this footprint with similar proportions since the early 1800’s and probably earlier, particularly given the provenance of the adjacent house(s).

The neighbouring cottage(s) is one of the earliest surviving in Houghton, probably from the early 14th Century, but the age of the barn suggests that when it was built, it was not related in any way.

It was more likely that it was constructed in the form still seen today to go with the Duke of Norfolk tenancy holding of Old Farm, farmed by the Ayling family from the 18th Century.

The 19th Century photograph and earlier records of a barn on the site would suggest parts of the frame may date back from the late Sixteenth/early Seventeenth Centuries.

During the 20th Century the thatch was replaced with roofs painted black.  The restored roof is in the 18th Century tradition of clasped side-purlins, with rafters pegged at apex and it now terminates with half hips.

The more modern offshoot structures have been replaced.