Great Coxwell Barn
| Great Coxwell Barn | |
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National Trust | |
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| Grid reference: | SU269940 |
| Location: | 51°38’39"N, 1°36’46"W |
| Information | |
Great Coxwell Barn is a large 14th-century barn on the northern edge of the village of Great Coxwell, in Berkshire. It stands in the Vale of White Horse near the little market town of Faringdon.
This is a very large barn is very large - the internal measurements of the main hall being 144 feet by 38 feet.
Name and use
When it was built, the barn was as part of a monastic grange under the control of Beaulieu Abbey, in Hampshire. As such the barn would have been used to store most, if not all, of the crop of the grange. Also crops were received, as tithes, to Beaulieu Abbey as rent from tenant farmers, for acreages owned by the Abbey. Beaulieu Abbey collected these tithes from tenant farmers and parishioners, who were obliged to deliver a portion of their crop to the barn. These tithes were recorded by a clerk who had his office inside the west door.
The real glories are however the great barns (erroneously called tithe barns or by estate agents tythe [sic] barns). These were the warehouses of the Middle Ages where vast quantities of food was stored, and they show the skill and craftsmanship of the mediæval workman at its best. The biggest are enormous – Bradford on Avon and Tisbury, Wiltshire, Great Coxwell ... (p107).—Aston
The barn is also noted as a favourite of the poet and artist William Morris, who described the Barn as "unapproachable in its dignity". He would often bring guests to marvel at its splendour.
History
The barn was part of the manor of Great Coxwell which was attached to the manor of Faringdon. This was originally a Royal manor given to the Cistercian monks by King John in 1203 for the founding of an abbey. The manor house or grange at Coxwell is believed to have stood opposite Court House Farm. The centre of Faringdon Manor was at Wyke, a now lost grange and site of the abbey, just north of the town. The abbey moved to Beaulieu in the New Forest but Faringdon and its granges remained under its control. The barn is now in the care of the National Trust.
Structure
The barn, built in the first decade of the 14th century, is constructed of Cotswold stone and the roof is constructed of Stonesfield slate. The barn is aisled, to support the massive roof. There is a dovecote over the door of the east porch. The floor area is 5,502.0 s (First argument to "number_format" must be a number. s).
Also note the interesting carved graffiti on the stone structural supporting columns. Similar carvings can be found in the local parish church, St Giles.
Pictures
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Great Coxwell Barn) |
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The Great Barn from roughly SW -
The southern-gable -
Interior showing western aisle -
Interior showing roof structure
Outside links
- interior photograph
- The National Trust
- Beaulieu Abbey
- Pictures of Great Coxwell Barn and the area on Geograph.co.uk
Sources
- Sue Clifford and Angela King, England in Particular (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2006), ISBN 0-340-82616-9, pp. 410–411.
- Timothy Darvill, Paul Stamper and Jane Timby, England: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600 (OUP, 2002), ISBN 0-19-284101-7, pp. 285–6.
- F.W.B. Charles, The Great Barn at Bredon (Oxbow Monographs 76; 1997), ISBN 1-900188-27-9, pp. 14–16.
- Aston, Mick (2000), Mick's Archaeology, Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire.
- Munby, Julian (1996), Great Coxwell Barn, The National Trust (Enterprises), Swindon, Wiltshire.