Tithe Barn, Sturry | |
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![]() "Sturry's most memorable building" | |
Type | tithe barn |
Location | Sturry, Kent, England |
Coordinates | 51°17′57″N1°07′12″E / 51.2992°N 1.12°E |
Built | 16th century |
Architectural style(s) | Vernacular |
Governing body | Privately owned |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Official name | The School Hall, Milner Lane |
Designated | 29 September 1952 |
Reference no. | 1085499 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Milner Court |
Designated | 29 September 1952 |
Reference no. | 1369995 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Gateway to Milner Court |
Designated | 29 September 1952 |
Reference no. | 1085498 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Garden Wall to Milner Court |
Designated | 30 January 1967 |
Reference no. | 1336611 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Headmaster's House |
Designated | 14 March 1980 |
Reference no. | 1336612 |
The Tithe Barn, Sturry, Kent, England is a barn dating from the early 16th century. The barn was built as the tithe barn for the grange of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. At the Dissolution of the monasteries, the grange came into the ownership of Thomas Smythe who converted some of the buildings into a country house, Sturry Court. The barn continued in use for agricultural storage. In the early 20th century, Sturry Court was the country home of Alfred Milner who renamed it Milner Court. On his death in 1925, his widow, Violet, gifted the estate to The King's School, Canterbury which operated a preparatory school on the site. The school was opened by Rudyard Kipling, a friend of the Milners, in 1929. The site is now the Junior School for The King's School and the tithe barn has been restored and repurposed as a performing arts centre. "Sturry's most memorable building", the tithe barn is a Grade I listed structure.
The Abbey of St Augustine was founded in Canterbury in 598. [1] As was common, the abbey established a number of granges on its lands, which operated as agricultural estates generating revenues and produce for the abbey. The resulting produce, and the tithes (taxes) collected by the abbey, were stored in tithe barns. The tithe barn at Sturry is a late manifestation of this economic system, dating from the early 16th century. [2] Within some forty years of its construction, the Dissolution of the monasteries brought an end to the religious houses and the granges which had supported them. That at Sturry was bought by Thomas Smythe who built a country house on the site, which he named Sturry Court. [3]
In the early 20th century, Sturry Court, renamed Milner Court, was the country home of Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner. [4] Milner served as High Commissioner for Southern Africa, was a cabinet minister in several British governments during and after World War I and was a notable proponent of British imperialism. [5] On his death in 1925, his widow, Violet, gave the Sturry estate to The King's School, Canterbury which developed a preparatory school on the site. [lower-alpha 1] It was opened by Rudyard Kipling, a friend of the Milners, in 1929. [7] The site is now the Junior School for The King's School and the tithe barn has been restored and repurposed as a performing arts centre and assembly hall. [8]
John Newman, in his 2013 revised edition, Kent: North East and East, in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, calls the tithe barn, "Sturry's most memorable building". [9] The barn is constructed of red brick with its tiled roof supported by ten king posts. [2] It is 160 feet (49 m) in length. [9] The tithe barn is a Grade I listed structure. [2]
The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school; and is arguably the oldest continuously operating school in the world, since education on the Abbey and Cathedral grounds has been uninterrupted since AD 597.
Canterbury is a city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was until 1974 a county borough. It lies on the River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climate.
Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ, Canterbury.
Lacock is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Chippenham, and about 3.7 miles (6.0 km) outside the Cotswolds area. The village is owned almost in its entirety by the National Trust and attracts many visitors by virtue of its unspoiled appearance.
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.
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, 8 miles (13 km) from Sittingbourne, 48 miles (77 km) from London and 10 miles (16 km) from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The name is of Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".
Sturry is a village on the Great Stour river situated 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Canterbury in Kent. Its large civil parish incorporates several hamlets and, until April 2019, the former mining village of Hersden.
Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, 9 miles (14 km) east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses, a couple of restaurants, and a tea-room. Lenham has a population of 3,370 according to the 2011 Census.
Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as being founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early eighth century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.
Tisbury is a large village and civil parish approximately 13 miles (21 km) west of Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire. With a population at the 2011 census of 2,253 it is a centre for communities around the upper River Nadder and Vale of Wardour. The parish includes the hamlets of Upper Chicksgrove and Wardour.
Great Coxwell Barn is a Medieval tithe barn at Great Coxwell, Oxfordshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the village of Great Coxwell, which is about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Swindon in neighbouring Wiltshire.
Barton Court Grammar School is an 11-18 mixed Academy of Excellence in Canterbury, Kent, England. It has Foreign Language College status and offers A-Levels.
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England, with a population of 39,639 in the '2001 UK Census. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline, and its main industries are tourism and fishing. The town has one of the largest marinas on the English south coast, and the Port of Ramsgate provided cross-channel ferries for many years.
Sandling is a hamlet to the north of the town of Maidstone, Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It falls within the parish of Boxley.
Eddington was a village in Kent, South East England to the south-east of Herne Bay, to the west of Beltinge and to the north of Herne. It is now a suburb of Herne Bay, in Greenhill and Eddington Ward, one of the five wards of Herne Bay. Its main landmark for over 100 years until 2010 was Herne Bay Court, a former school which once possessed one of the largest and best-equipped school engineering workshops in England; it later became a Christian conference centre.
The Tithe Barn in Lenham, Kent, England is a large medieval tithe barn to the south of St Mary's Church. It was probably built in the late 14th century and is a Grade I listed building.
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.
St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent dismantlement until 1848.
St Augustine's Abbey or Ramsgate Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Ramsgate. It was built in 1860 by Augustus Pugin and is a Grade II listed building. It was the first Benedictine monastery to be built in England since the Reformation. In 2010, the monks moved to St Augustine's Abbey in Chilworth, Surrey. The site is now owned by the Vincentian Congregation from Kerala, India. The church of St Augustine, across the road from the abbey site, belongs to the Archdiocese of Southwark and is a shrine of St Augustine of Canterbury.
Place Farm is a complex of medieval buildings in the village of Tisbury, Wiltshire, England. They originally formed a grange of Shaftesbury Abbey. The farmhouse, the inner and outer gatehouses and the barn, reputedly the largest in England, are all Grade I listed buildings.