On the Ground the Great Medieval Barn is over 60M long (192-ft) & 11M high (37-ft) really giving the impression of a vast Wooden Cathedral (John Betjeman called it ‘The Cathedral of Middlesex‘, with a Central Nave and 2-Side Aisles giving a total width of around 12M (38-ft.) Its 12-Bays are supported by Giant Oak Columns, whole Trees selected and cut to shape, with a tremendous amount of Woodwork, of which over 95% is thought to Date from 1426 when the Barn was Built by Winchester College to House & Store the vast yield of Wheat from its Lands. Winchester College, Founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 is one of the most prestigious Schools in the world and remains one of the strongest Academically. It is situated in one of the finest Cities in the World and its Building & Grounds are outstanding.
In 1390 William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester (1324-1404) & Lord High Chancellor, secured both Papal & Royal Authority to acquire the Lands of Alien Priories for his Colleges, and in the following year he obtained from Richard II a Licence for St Catherine’s Abbey to sell him all its possessions in England, apart from the Priory of Blyth. These Possessions inluded the Manor of Harmondsworth with the Advowson of the Church and Vicarage. The Bishop sent a member of his household, Richard Altryncham, to Rouen to negotiate with the Abbey and convent about this buying of the Priory as an endowment for his Colleges. A sale was agreed on 15 October 1391, the price being fixed at 8,400 Gold Francs, which were paid in 1392 through a firm of Genoese Bankers. The Bishop also undertook to provide for the Prior Robert Beauchamp and for John le Cellier, his companion, all such things in the way of wine, food, clothing, and lodging as befitted religious of their estate for the rest of their lives. He would also furnish a Chapel for the Abbey. The Harmondsworth Property, centered on the Priory which stood to the West of Manor Farm and the Tithe Barn, thus became part of the endowment of his 2-Colleges at Winchester & Oxford.
Barn & Moat, 70-yds West of the Church. An Alien Priory, Cell to the Benedictine Abbey of the Holy Trinity Rouen was Founded here temp. William I; it passed into the Possession of Winchester College in 1391 and to other Owners after 1544. The Great Barn is a Timber-framed Building of 12-Bays, 190-ft x 36-ft., with Boarded Walls and a Tiled roof. It was built in the 14th or 15thC and has 2-Rows of Posts on Stone Bases, supporting King-post Trusses with Curved Braces below the Tie-Beams; the Aisles have Ties at the Level of the Wall-plate, with Curved Braces below and a Curved Strut above each. 3-Bays, the 3rd, 7th & 10th from the South, are Floored and have Entrances on the East. The Main Roof is continued over the Aisles without a break. The Moat retains only its West Arm, with traces of the Enclosure on the North & South.
The use of Aisles enabled the Barn’s Architects to increase its Width and by doing so, provided the maximum space for Threshing Floors. The longer the Barn was, the more Threshing Floors could be provided. English Barns went through an evolution in the number of Threshing Floors; the earliest had just one Central Floor, a Design that became the commonest to be found in Britain. Harmondsworth Great Barn is unusual in having 3-Threshing Floors, allowing much more Grain to be Threshed at one time.
Very few people will understand the meaning of the old English word “Flail,” because it is almost 2-Centuries since that old-world Agricultural Implement was in general use. Until Steam was introduced as a Labour-saving Appliance in Agricultural work, Corn was invariably Threshed out of the Ear by Wooden Instruments like that illustrated here, consisting of 2-unequal lengths of rounded Wood of the size of an ordinary Broomstick, connected by Leather Loops. The Farmhands who used this primitive contrivance grasped hold of the Longer Stick, and, brandishing it about over their heads, brought the Hinged End down repeatedly on the Wheat spread out on the Threshing Floor; thus, with the expenditure of considerable time & muscular strength, separating the Grains from the Ears. As the “Business-end” of the Flail is constructed so as to Swing in every Direction, it is obvious that the Mastery of it was only acquired with Practice, and at the cost of sundry Whacks on the Head brought on himself by the clumsy Novice. Indeed, it is an Instrument requiring particular dexterity in manipulation.
The Floor of the Barn was originally made of hard-packed Flint Gravel held together with Iron Panning, excavated from a Local Gravel Deposit, which was used as a more readily available alternative to Stone. In subsequent years it was repaired with Brick, tile and, ultimately, Cement, obscuring the original appearance of the Floor. An indication of how it would have looked can still be obtained from the outside of the West Side of the Barn.
The Barn’s Main Posts are made of Oak. Each is about 14-ins (36-cm) Square and sits on a Block of Reigate Sandstone, a common Building material in Medieval London. The Posts were cut into Shape using Axes, Adzes & Saws, the Marks from which can still be seen in some instances. The Builders cut & fitted the Timberwork together on the Ground and scratched Roman Numerals, called Assembly Marks, on the joints to indicate where pieces of timber were to be Combined. Some of the Pairs of Main Posts were made from the Trunks of very large Individual Trees which were cut in 2. They were all placed Upside-down, relative to the Original Direction of the Tree. This was because the bottom of a Tree is always wider than the Top; the greater width was needed to accommodate the Joints with the Beams that support the Roof. Despite the care that the Builders took to get the Joints right, they may have made some mistakes along the way, as some of the Timbers have Holes for Pegs and Mortices that were never used. Alternatively, the Timbers may have been reused from another Construction.
The Rows of Arcade Posts support Tie-Beams, with Curved Braces to strengthen the Frame. The Collar Beam, which supports the opposing Principal Rafters, is supported by the Crown Post. Roof Purlins run the length of the Barn and are Tenoned into the Principal Rafters, with additional support from Curved Wind Braces. Some aspects of this Design are unusual, both in the way that they are Executed and in terms of their early-date. A number of features in the Barn’s Carpentry are described by English Heritage as “Experimental, Precocious & Regionally Unusual,” which is attributed to the very high level of Skill of the Master Carpenters who Built it.
Scale & a few Oddities apart, the Design of the Great Barn followed a Pattern that was well Established: a High Central ‘Nave’ is flanked with Lower Aisles to each side. The vast expanses of the Main Roof Slopes, plain-Clay-tile covered in the 1420s, sweep down to 7-ft from the Ground and the ends are half-Hipped, finished with ingeniously constructed Gablets. The Walls were Clad in broad Upright Boards, all laboriously Hand-sawn. Most of them survive and rest on Low Sill Walls of mixed Stonework. The Aisle Posts – the Main Uprights, hewn out of whole Oaks, which form the Longitudinal Nave Arcades – stand on Massive Blocks of Green Sandstone from Reigate in Surrey.
The Barn’s now pristine emptiness means that the Functional combination of its Towering Verticals and Curved Braces can be readily appreciated. Not surprisingly, then, although it is celebrated as a feat of Engineering and beloved of Carpentry Historians, the Great Barn has had its admirers as a piece of Architecture, the most famous being Sir John Betjeman, who was taken there by Simon Jenkins in 1973. He followed in the wake of a Litany of Gothic Revival & Arts-&-Crafts Designers: George Gilbert Scott made Sketches there in 1847 and was later prompted – years before William Morris’s famous words on Great Coxwell – to praise Medieval Barns in General ‘as good and true in their Architecture as Cathedrals’. George Edmund Street went there, too, probably with Scott. Basil Champneys based much of the Library of Mansfield College, Oxford, on what he saw. Ernest Gimson, who went there in 1880 with William Richard Lethaby, did much the same in his Massively Timbered Memorial Library of 1921 at Bedales School, Hampshire.
Medieval Documents, mostly in the Winchester College Archives, tell us how the Great Barn was Built, how it was used and of the People involved. The 1st mention in the accounts is a Payment made in the 12-months up to September 1425 to a certain John att Oke & one William Kyppyng for inspecting Standing Timber ‘for the Barn at Harmondsworth’. The last we hear of its Construction is that Tiling the Roof was complete by September 1427. In case of any doubt, Tree-ring Dating has confirmed that the Barn’s Main Timbers were felled in the Winter of 1424/25 and the Spring of 1426, suggesting that the frame was Prefabricated during 1426 and Erected, still Green, during the Spring and summer of 1427. The Roof Tiles were made at Harmondsworth and the ‘Ferricrete’, a natural Iron Oxide-cemented Gravel, used in the Sill Walls, Quarried nearby. The main Timber Joints were Pegged, but 10s of 1,000s of Nails were also needed, together with other Ironwork, and this came from further Afield. Among it were the Door Hinges picturesquely described as ‘Gosefett’ (presumably of the 3-Strap variety) and ‘Woodcobbeleez’ – probably ‘Woodcock Bills’ and, if so, with a single straight Strap. Among the men involved were the Blacksmith John Derfford, who made the Hinges, and Robert Helyer the Master Tiler, who received a massive £1 Bonus in 1427 ‘over & above the Contracted Price for the Roofing of the said Barn’. The overall cost was about £90, roughly 18-months’ worth of the Manor’s Profits. The Carpenters & Tilers were paid 4d per day, about twice an Agricultural Wage.
As for its purpose, the Great Barn (and other Great Barns) was not a Tithe Barn. Such Buildings, for storing a 10th part of the Produce of the Parish, were usually modest Constructions and rarely survive. The Great Barn was for the Storage of the Cereal Crop from the College’s Demesne – that is, the in-hand Land of the Manor – about 240-acres of which was sown Annually in the 1420s. The Crops in question were wheat, barley and oats – in that order – as well as Peas and Beans ‘in the Stalk’. All these could be kept in Ricks, but risked being spoiled when the Rick was opened and, in an Age when Grain was nearly as negotiable as Coin, Barn Storage kept it under Lock & Key. Management of the Estate was ultimately down to the Fellows of the College & The Warden – at this time, Walter Thurburn – but was largely Delegated to a Steward, aided by Clerks & the 2-Fellows appointed Annually as Bursars. At Harmondsworth itself, the Senior Local Official was the Bailiff – in the 1420s, the long-serving Roger Hubbard – to whom others reported, some Permanent, some Seasonal. He & his wife seem to have been Favourites with the College, which, on 2-Occasions, presented Mrs Hubbard with lengths of Coloured Cloth.
The endless round of Ploughing, Harrowing and then Sowing & Weeding the Crop was carried out by ‘Customary’ Tenants, whose Rent was paid through fixed Annual Services, and by Hired Labourers. The high point of the year was, as ever, the Harvest: Reaping the Standing Corn, Binding it into Sheaves, Stooking them, and then, once they were dried by Sun & Wind, Carting them to the Barn. There, they were Counted & Recorded, with the aid of Tally Sticks, and then Stacked, a Skilful & Arduous Business Supervised by the Barnkeeper or Granger. With the Harvest in, a Feast was Held in the Hall of the Manor House – numerous ‘Reap-Geese’ are mentioned in the Accounts, together with staggering quantities of Ale; for the Working Man, these occasions must have been as Merry as Medieval England got.
Over the months that followed came the Threshing, a Longer, Harder & more Expensive Task than the Harvest itself. Teams of men and women with Jointed Flails Beat the Sheaves laid out on the Ground, periodically Raking away the Stalks, Shovelling the Debris into the Air and Fanning it to separate the Grain from the Chaff. Sums spent on a number of such Fans are noted in the Medieval Accounts. Once safely stowed in the Granary, the Grain was issued, some for Consumption on Site or as a form of Payment, but mostly for Sale on the voracious London Market, the Wheat for Bread and the Barley largely to Brewers. Peaceful as all this sounds, the relationship between the College & its Tenants was rarely Tranquil. At a time when most Landlords were commuting customary works for Cash, the College insisted that its Tenants did the Work. The result was a series of Strikes and, in 1450, what amounted to a Tenants’ Revolt, perhaps emboldened that Summer by news of Jack Cade’s Rebellion in Kent. All this cost the College a lot of money, as the Scribe carefully put it, because ‘the Customary Tenants were unwilling to carry out their Customary Duties that year’.
Winchester’s Ownership ended in 1543 when, no doubt with some reluctance on the part of the College, Harmondsworth was Ceded to Henry VIII in Exchange for other Properties, which were mostly formerly Monastic. Edward VI, however, soon Sold it to Sir William Paget, a Royal Official Ennobled in 1549, whose Descendants – from 1714, the Earls of Uxbridge – Held it until 1774. It was Bought in that year by the Cotton Family (later Powell-Cotton) of Quex Park, Kent, and the Barn was then frequently shared by a number of Tenants. The Estate was eventually Broken up and Sold after WW2, but Farming use continued until the 1970s. When this ended, however, the Great Barn joined the ranks of 1,000s of Historic Farm Buildings unsuited to Modern Machinery or Shorn of the Working Farm they Served and with no obvious or Economic Function.
Things came to a head in 2009, by when English Heritage – which, through its Statutory Arm (now Historic England), had been involved for years – was the only Body that could save it. In short, in 2011, the Barn was bought for a Token Sum and then, in 2014/15, was subject to a meticulous 2-yr Conservation and re-Roofing programme, at a cost of more than £570,000. Each side of the Barn’s Roof holds 92-Tile Courses and a total of around 76,000 tiles, which were originally held in place by Oak Pegs. Many of the Tiles have been replaced over the years and the Oak Pegs have been replaced by Galvanised Peg Nails due to the effects of Decay
Now, with the support of the Friends of the Great Barn at Harmondsworth, it is Open, at no charge, on half the Sundays in the Summer. However, with one Battle Won, another Looms with the threat of Heathrow’s possible Expansion: having grown since its beginnings in 1930 as the Fairey Aviation Company’s Great Westesrn Aerodrome (renamed after a Row of Cottages on the edge of Hounslow Heath). Heathrow Airport started life as the Great Western Aerodrome, privately owned by Fairey Aviation. It was largely used for Test Flying, with Commercial Flights taking off from nearby Heston & Hanworth Airfields, whilst Croydon was considered the Main Airport for London. In 1944, the Air Ministry requisitioned the Airfield for use as a Major Transport Base for the Royal Air Force. Before the work was completed the WW2 ended and as London needed a larger Modern Airport, the Airfield was handed over to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for Development. It opened to Civilian Passengers in 1946. The Airport is now the 7th Busiest in the World.
More to the point, as recommended by the 2015 Davies Commission, the vexed 3rd-Runway would Lie no more than 500-ft away, leaving the Great Barn Standing, but in utterly degraded Surroundings & Bereft of its Village Community.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 