Repair and restoration of the Tithe Barn, Swalcliffe

The Tithe Barn at Swalcliffe dates from 1400, built by William of Wykham and acknowledged as the finest barn in Oxfordshire. The Barn is of stone construction and is divided by oak cruck trusses into ten bays, expressed externally by stone buttresses.

Used until recent years as a working barn its upkeep had been sadly neglected and the Tithe barn was, at the time of its acquisition by the Oxfordshire Building Trust, in a poor state of repair. At some time previously an opening had been breached in the West wall to enable access for large farm machinery. The removal of a bay of stone walling together with a buttress had led to the structural integrity of part of the barn being lost, and a section of the wall had been forced out of alignment.

Acanthus Clews were involved in the careful restoration of the building as part of its conversion. The Tithe Barn’s new function is as a museum and storage area for Oxfordshire’s Museum Service’s collection of historic agricultural machinery. It was re-opened in September 1991 by H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester.

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