I just looked at an old barn (1830's)this week. Originally I was told that it was a
3-bay Dutch barn ,upon seeing the barn I asked again and was told 3-Bay English Threshing Barn . Inside ,to the right of the door was a massive hewn oak Swing Beam runnig
paralell to and 5' below the tie beam spaning the width of the barn (30')
In the book Old Barns in the New World by
Richard Babcock this type of barn is called a German Barn but in The Old Barn Book, a field guide to North American Barns by Noble & Cleek the barn is called a variant of an English Three-Bay Threshing Barn.
Who built barns with Swing Beams ? Since
the engineering forum is acting like lawers,
I shall treat the historians as doctors and
ask for a third opinion.