Historian Ian Wheeler says the astonishing Great Barn of Cholsey was probably the largest in the world. Now he and a team are rebuilding the who thing in a digital world.
VISITORS to the unassuming village of Cholsey often remark on the long row of stone-and-flint barns that stand end-on to the road at Manor Farm, near Cholsey Church.
Impressive as these are, they are only around half the size of a single gigantic barn, thought to have been erected around the year 1300, which stood on the same site until the early nineteenth century.
International experts acknowledge that this was certainly the largest barn of its type in Europe and probably the world.
An sketch of the Great Barn from about 1790.
In medieval times, Reading Abbey possessed a huge landholding in Cholsey and copious amounts of produce from the fertile soil had to be stored under cover.
Considering the technology of the day, the scale of the construction project could be compared with modern marvels such as The Shard in London.
Standing 51 feet tall, 54 feet wide and no less than 303 feet in length, the barn’s vast roof had to be supported on two long rows of massive stone columns because timbers of the required size and strength could not be found; its nearest rival is a ruin at Beaulieu, Hants, which is a mere 224 long.
Countless tons of grain, roots and beans would have passed through the barn during its 500-year life but, after the monasteries were closed and with changing social conditions, the cost of repairing it became too great for the landowner and it had to be pulled down in 1815. Among the materials sold off were a staggering 230,000 roof tiles.
As early as 1816, antiquarians were lamenting the loss of this amazing structure, but luckily a survey of the Great Barn had been made shortly before it was demolished.
This prized and important document was preserved at the British Museum and its existence has made it possible for a small team of local history buffs to begin to re-create a unique building for all to see.
Rather than the originally intended scale model, the Great Barn of Cholsey will be reconstructed as a 3D computer model, realistically detailed inside and out, and with features such as animation, fly-through explorations and the opportunity to study hidden details of its construction.
The project is already under way, led by Ian Wheeler (author of Fair Mile Hospital: a Victorian Asylum), assisted by high-tech draughtsmen David Thomas and Iain Revell.
A number of distinguished archaeologists and historians have offered assistance and members of The Wallingford Historical & Archaeological Society will also be involved.
Watch out for further reports on this fascinating project.
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