Summary

A tithe barn 40m south west of St. Catherine’s Church, Whitestone.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 5 November 2015. The 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.

The monument includes a tithe barn in the village of Whitestone attached to the former Rectory, situated on the lower south facing slopes of Waddles Down in the valley of a tributary to the Nadder Brook. The tithe barn survives as a rectangular roofed building dating to the 15th or 16th centuries of cruck construction with rendered cob walls, a six bay roof with heavy principals with scarfed-on feet and an unbraced collar beam. There are two rows of butted side purlins and not quite butting curved wind braces between them. The roof is half hipped at the north end and hipped at the south end. There are opposed double doors, those to the west having massive original timber door jambs and a straight lintel. A two-light 19th century mullioned window has been inserted to the left of the doorway. Iron tie rods and light modern partitions are later insertions. The ridge, hip and collar beam at the southern end have also been renewed and brick has been used to repair the cob walls in places. The building was probably originally used as a threshing and tithe barn. The tithe barn is listed Grade II*.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Historic agricultural buildings make a rich and varied contribution to the English landscape. The variety of building materials and styles used are a reflection of the use of local materials and building traditions and specialisations. The settings for such buildings are equally important and in the case of the tithe barn 40m south west of St. Catherine’s Church, Whitestone it is closely associated with the rectory, church and nearby Barton Farm and is an unusually rare survival. It contains many of the important localised building techniques employed in the region such as the use of cob. The high grade buildings are often those connected with ecclesiastical use, and these often contain fine roof carpentry. Some of the greatest surviving barns for example are those which were connected to monastic institutions. In parishes the priests were effectively paid by the parishioners being levied ‘tithes’ a tenth of the annual produce be this in grain, hay, wood, milk, young animals, fruit and so on. This would need to be stored hence the development of the tithe barn.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-447464

Source: Historic England