Through my research and visits to old barns here in Maine, I notice most have long continuous plates tying the bents together. But a couple real oldies are missing the top plates and instead have sectioned girts tying the bents together...no top plates. At the eaves, vertical wall sheathing runs beyond the top girts to hit the roof boards.
Is this system of bent construction an old english carryover or just a different method? Perhaps the barns with long, continuous top plates were assembled differently. That is, the long walls were made as "bents" with crossties tying them together. ??
I have a photo but don't know how to post one here...
