The Wilton Barn - Aurora, ON - Barns on Waymarking.com

The Wilton Barn is an excellent example of an 2nd Quarter 19th Century English style barn, originally used for storage of grain, which was later raised in the mid 19th Century through the addition of a foundation. The barn is a gable roofed building that measures
approximately 19 meters long and 12 meters wide. It is of heavy timber frame construction and is a complete pre-Confederation structure.

Although today, it rests on a high fieldstone foundation (likely built in the mid to late 19th Century), when the barn was originally built it would have had “mudsills”, perhaps sitting on boulders or wood posts. The building was originally designed to be entered at ground level, with no stable below. This type of barn is known as an English Barn or Wheat Barn.The Wilton Barn represents a rare and intact example of a very early English Style wheat barn, built of local old growth wood and later raised to accommodate mixed farming as the industry of agriculture evolved through the mid to late 19th Century. The barn may date from as early as the mid 1830s and exhibits some noteworthy features, in particular the large hewn beams, expertly notched and pegged together.

The barn has benefited from the relatively poor agricultural conditions on this part of the moraine, which limited the need for expansion and re-modelling seen in other more profitable areas of the County. As a result it is one of the earliest and most intact frame
barns of its type in present day York Region. The building is a testament to the skill and craftsmanship of the early builders and has been well maintained throughout its history. The present owners of the property have invested considerable time and effort in
stabilizing and preserving the barn so that it can be preserved as a lasting example of early barn construction in York County for future generations.

The presence of the barn on the moraine and the limitations on urban redevelopment that that affords, combined with the community spiritedness and appreciation for the historic
architecture of the barn on the part of the current owners, has provided a rare opportunity to preserve a very early, and outstanding example of a Whitchurch Township barn in the boundaries of the present day town of Aurora.

Source: The Heritage Designation Report prepared by Michael Seaman
Community Planner (July 2005).

Construction: Combination Is this a 'working' barn?: Stable (used to house farm animals) Distinctive Features: Other (describe below) Other Distinctive Features: The main structural embers, posts, plates and sills of the Wilton Barn are made of hewn timbers. The barn frame is of exceptionally high quality. A major element of the frame is the immense swing beam, 20” thick and approximately 37 feet long, which straddles the width of the barn. The swing beam is an entirely North American element of the English barn and came about because of the the extension of the threshing floor by a bay with a loft overhead for the storage of fodder. The awesome proportions of the swing beam in the Wilton barn date from the time when the nearby virgin pine forest still produced trees of gigantic size. The heritage designation report identifies the following distinctive features: • Overall Barn form • Medium pitched roof • Historic Wood Frame • Stone Foundation • Earth ramp to second floor • Log floor supports • Horse stalls • Centre Opening – North Elevation • Hay mow • 20” wide swing beam • Historic window and door openings Rating - Please Rate this Barn: Other: Not listed

Visit Instructions:

When visiting a waymark, please take pictures that clearly show the barn and any implements, animals or other farm-related items that might be visible. This category can be as much about creative photography as the actual building itself. 

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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   10/11/2011 InGodsHands visited it