Tithe Barn | |
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General information | |
Town or city | Pilton, Somerset |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 51°09′48″N2°35′21″W / 51.1634°N 2.5891°W |
Completed | 14th century |
Client | Glastonbury Abbey |
The Tithe Barn at Cumhill Farm in Pilton, Somerset, England, was built in the 14th century as a tithe barn to hold produce for Glastonbury Abbey. It is a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument. [1]
The barn, of coursed and squared rubble, [1] was originally built in the 14th and 15th centuries to hold the produce from farms in the area who paid one tenth of their produce to Glastonbury Abbey as the landowner. It is one of four surviving monastic barns built by the Abbey, [2] the others being the Tithe Barn, Manor Farm, Doulting, the West Pennard Court Barn and the Glastonbury tithe barn, now the Somerset Rural Life Museum.
During the Second World War, farms in Pilton were used to train the Women's Land Army, including Cumhill Farm and the medieval barn. [3]
Despite being commonly referred to as the tithe barn, little evidence exists to suggest the barn actually stored tithes. It is possible that it was instead built to store produce farmed from land owned by Glastonbury Abbey, rather than that offered as tithes, but may have stored tithes at a later date. Literature produced by the Pilton Barn Trust in the 1990s referred to it as "Pilton Barn" or the "Abbey Barn" and in 1963 a reverend local to the area claimed in the Cheddar Valley Gazette that another barn, since demolished, was actually responsible for storing tithe payments in the village. [4] [5] [6]
On 9 June 1963 lightning set fire to the thatched roof, [7] and it remained a wreck until Michael Eavis, organiser of the Glastonbury Festival, bought it in 1995, [2] and presented the barn to the Pilton Barn Trust.
The project was made possible with a grant of £400,000 from English Heritage. The Glastonbury festival contributed a further £100,000. [8] [9]
A new roof structure replicating the original, using a combination of traditional carpentry techniques and modern technology, [7] has been built by Peter McCurdy, [7] with skills used when recreating the Globe theatre in London, from English oak which came from Northumberland. [7] The roof frame consists of a cruck construction which sits high in the walls, with an arcade plate then carrying the apex of the roof above.
McCurdy was also assisted by a local team run by Jon Maine [10] [11] who designed and erected the complex scaffolding both internally and externally, and then used 8000 36"-long oak hand-split (riven) battens to tile the roof with over 30,000 hand-made plain tiles.
In addition to the new roof a new floor was laid, including a 3 metres (10 ft) wide strip in Blue Lias Stone and 44 cubic metres of lime concrete used to fill the expanses either side. It is said to be the largest expanse of lime concrete flooring anywhere in Europe. [12]
The restoration was nominated for the annual Wood Awards, [13] which recognise and encourage outstanding design, craftmanship and installation in joinery and structures in wood. It was awarded the prize as the Best Use of British Timber Award and Structural Timber Award in 2005. It also received the Royal Institute of British Architects Town and Country Design Award in the same year. [2]
It was officially opened on Friday 1 April 2005 by local historian Sir John Keegan, and is now used for public events such as medieval fairs, dances, weddings, parties, Somerset Arts Week and village events. [7]
Glastonbury is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.
Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England in most summers. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums have been recorded at the festival, and it receives extensive television and newspaper coverage.
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the village church or rectory, and independent farmers took their tithes there. The village priests did not have to pay tithes—the purpose of the tithe being their support. Some operated their own farms anyway. The former church property has sometimes been converted to village greens.
Sir Athelstan Joseph Michael Eavis is an English dairy farmer and the co-creator of the Glastonbury Festival, which takes place at his farm in Pilton, Somerset.
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.
Pilton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the A361 road in the Mendip district, 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Shepton Mallet and 6 miles (10 km) east of Glastonbury. The village has a population of 998. The parish includes the hamlets of West Compton, East Compton, Westholme, Beardly Batch and Cannards Grave.
Arabella Spencer-Churchill was an English charity founder, festival co-founder and fundraiser and a granddaughter of former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
The Somerset Rural Life Museum is situated in Glastonbury, Somerset, UK. It is a museum of the social and agricultural history of Somerset, housed in buildings surrounding a 14th-century barn once belonging to Glastonbury Abbey.
Doulting is a village and civil parish 1.5 miles (2 km) east of Shepton Mallet, on the A361, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.
West Bradley is a village and civil parish 4 miles south-east of Glastonbury in Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Hornblotton and Lottisham.
West Pennard is a village and civil parish east of Glastonbury, situated at the foot of Pennard Hill, in Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Coxbridge and Woodlands.
The 2008 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was held from 27 to 29 June 2008.
West Pennard Court Barn is a late 14th or early 15th century tithe barn which was built for Glastonbury Abbey. The Grade I listed building is between West Pennard and West Bradley in the English county of Somerset.
The Grade I listed buildings in Somerset, England, demonstrate the history and diversity of its architecture. The ceremonial county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset County Council, which is divided into five districts, and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are West Somerset, South Somerset, Taunton Deane, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.
Emily Rose Eavis is co-organiser of the annual Glastonbury Festival, and the youngest daughter of the festival's founder and organiser Michael Eavis and his second wife Jean.
The Tithe Barn at Manor Farm in Doulting, Somerset, England, was built in the 15th century, and has been designated as a Grade I listed building, and scheduled as an ancient monument.
The 2010 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts took place in Pilton, Somerset, England in June 2010.
The Whitelake River is a small river on the Somerset Levels, England.
Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn is a Grade I listed barn in Pound Lane, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England. It was part of a medieval grange belonging to Shaftesbury Abbey and was built in the early 14th century, with a granary dated to about 1400. It is owned and protected by English Heritage and managed by the Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust.
Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of 285 square miles (738 km2) ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 110,000. The administrative centre of the district is Shepton Mallet but the largest town is Frome.
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