Tithe Barn
The end of the Tithe Barn showing its position on the High Street leading up to St Mary's Church.
When the Barn was built, the parish of Edlesborough was considerably larger than now. It took in parts of Whipsnade, Eaton Bray, Billington and Slapton and, I believe, part of Ivinghoe, and so the large amount of tithe (1/10th of harvest) collected need a lot of storage room. (Source JA Lyon)
Overview
The Barn was built around 1565 except the South Wall, ie the end near the road, about 100 years later. (Source: Dr. Gray who was then in the Ministry of Works who dealt with Ancient Monuments.)
The barn measures around 166ft x 30ft and internally had 10 bays of about 15ft x 10ft. All the internal wood was oak and the massive principles and beams were morticed and tennoned and fixed with wooden peg, on most of the woodwork the edge marks could still be seen. Although a large barn it was certainly not the largest in the country, probably coming in the top 20. There are larger barns in Kent and Oxfordshire still. (Source: John Bailey of Dunstable who produced a plan of the original construction which showed the ends were originally hipped not gable ends as now.)
The Barn is of wood (oak) and brick construction set on plinths of Totternhoe stone and was of course thatched originally. It was tiled in the early 1900s. Apparently the thatch was removed and the roof prepared for corrugated iron, but Lady Brownlow put a stop to that and insisted on tiles. One of the tilers was a George Sear who was an estate carpenter, and another carpenter and 1 lad put the whole roof on. Incidentally, I now live in George Sears house which was built in 1904.
John A. Lyon
Source: Based on a text in CY Photo album
Description of Interior
The interior of the barn is lofty, and gives the impression of a church. The oak beams and crosspieces are a feature. In the bays, farmers used to put their harvest offerings for the Church, and this was followed by an old fashioned “harvest supper”.
Source: CY Photo album
‘Luton Man owns Largest Barn in England’ - Thursday Aug 27th 1931 - The Luton News
Mr George Lake, of Chapel Street, Luton, is the owner of Edlesborough Tithe Barn, which is the largest in England, and one of the oldest. Experts give the day of its erection as 1496, or perhaps earlier. It is 180 feet long and 30 ft wide, with timber framwork. Rock quarried at Totternhoe forms the foundations. An offer of £2000 from America for the oak beams and rafters for the purpose of building a similar barn was refused some years ago.
Source: CY Photo album
