The Barn : Silent Spaces

by Malcolm Kirk

The barn is a unique architectural form - simple, spacious, harmonious, its origins going back many hundreds of years to pre-medieval Europe. Through the centuries, it has been a multifunctional and versatile building, used as a storehouse, meeting hall, place of worship and even dwelling place. Filled photographs, this is a record of the history and development of the aisled barn - the result of Malcolm Kirk's long search back into its past. He has travelled all over Europe and America, recording some of the oldest and most beautiful barns that still exist today - some dating back as far as the 12th century. He traces the origins of the aisled barn back even further to the Roman basilica, and then describes how the style spread throughout Europe in its many forms - the monastic tithe barns of medieval Europe; the 12th century urban market halls in France; rural manor halls in England - finally arriving at the vast barns built in Colonial America. Throughout, his images of these ancient buildings are complemented by plans and elevations as well as documentary images from medieval manuscripts and 19th-century prints.

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

Reviews

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

1994
This is a gorgeous big picture book!

Calvados, Normandy, has large monastic barn, c 1200, old market hall 1500; Manoir du Mont-St.Michel at Bretteville-sur-Odon barn 13c
Parcay-Meslay [Indre-et-Loire] has large monastic barn, c 1200,
grange of Negron at Amboise, INdre-et-Loire, 13c-15c
Vaulerent/Vaulrand [Val d'Oise] has large monastic barn, c 1200,
Cistercian abbbey Bonneval at Masse [Aveyron] in the Rouergue, 1453.
Warnavillers [Oise], Picardy, ancient barn 1150 perhaps.
Grange aux Dimes [tithe barn[ at Heurteauville [Seine-Maritime] in Normandy 13c
Templar barn at Commanderie de St Vaubourg at Val de la Haye [Seine-Maritime] in Normandy 13c

near Rouen is ruins of Benedictine abbey Jumieges, 655, as example of an establishment that would have had such a barn to store grain from its extensive property

GERMANY
CLOPPENBURG OPEN-AIR MUSEUM HAS WEHLBURG FARMHOUSE FROM WEHDEL, NEAR OSNABRUCK IN LOWER SAXONY, 1750

KENT
Major Barn at Lenham 14c; Buckwell Farm near Ashford 15c
Frindsbury, 14cf 13-bay barn
Minor Barn of royal Cluniac Abbey at Faversham

Worcestershire -- Leigh Court 14c

Wiltshire: 14c tithe barn Bradford-on Avon

South Yorkshire: near Penistone: Gunthwaite Hall, 16c

Great Coxwell, Oxfordshire, 1305. Barn orig. belonging to Cistercian abbey of Beaulieu.

BELGIUM, BOKRIJK OPEN-AIR MUSEUM

Cistercian abbey of Ter Doest at Lissewege in West Flanders 1280