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Barns


  • Preservation - links to resources for the preservation of old barns

CoxwellExterior.jpg (20898 bytes)I love post-and-beam (also known as timberpegged or timber-framed) barns. I admire the beauty of them, the hard work of the people who built them, the skill of the master framers who crafted the amazing mortise-and-tenon (no nails here, folks) joints, and the magnificent timber that was used to build them. Where are you going to find an 80-foot 10" x 10" today? It is a shame that we have lost so many of these historic buildings.


Barns have a long history, not only because of their use for food storage and farming, but because of their heavy influence on church architecture. The thing that makes so many people fall in love with an old barn is the amazing space inside -- the same space that you get in the nave of a classic church. It is thought that barns served as early churches in Europe. Even today, we still use the same architectural terms: nave and aisle most notably.

CoxwellInterior.jpg (71435 bytes)The next time you're in an old barn, look at the high space of the hay mows, the way the aisles run, and the sunlight shining through the gaps in the planks like stained glass.

 

Pictures are of the great Coxwell tithe barn in England.


Page created10/04/96.
Last updated 03/17/03 at 14:29.

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