The Tithe Barn

Summary

Tithe Barn 170m west of the Church of St. Giles, Bredon.

Reasons for Designation

During the medieval period, tenant farms contributed a tithe, meaning a tenth of their produce to the church. The function of a tithe barn was to store the produce of the farm, and of the other farms of the manor. Tithes first came to England with St Augustine (d. 604) and by the end of the 10th century, tithe payments had become compulsory, therefore during the next four to five centuries, tithe barns were constructed to store this produce. Despite fire damage, the tithe barn 170m west of the Church of St. Giles survives very well and retains important and rare architectural features.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 21 May 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes a tithe barn situated on the southern side of the River Avon in Bredon. The monument survives as a tithe barn that was constructed of limestone with a Cotswold stone roof during the mid-14th century. The barn is approximately 40m long and up to 20m wide with a double pitched stone tile roof and stone coped gables. The north eastern façade has two projecting gabled porches with timber framed upper parts above flat arched wagon entrances. The south eastern porch has a Solar room above the wagon entrance with an external stone staircase and an internal balcony. The barn has stepped buttresses separated by slit ventilation holes with deep splays and some wooden lintels. At the south eastern and south western corners are stepped angle buttresses. The barn has a stone and concrete floor with two rows of oak posts on stone bases forming three aisles.

The tithe barn was constructed during the mid-14th century but was burnt down in 1979 and was repaired in 1983.

The tithe barn is listed at Grade I.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

WT 303

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:- 117870

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