Day 22: After a couple days of family catch-ups in Dave’s old home town of Westbury we ventured further afield to Bradford-On-Avon where Dave had remembered there was an old tithe barn for us to explore.

The barn is one of the largest in England at 51 metres long so it gives an indication of how fertile the surrounding lands must have been if they needed a barn this large to hold the tithe from the local farms. (Tithing is the tax or contribution to the church of one-tenth of your farm produce or income)

I was hooked on the history from the time we entered the property and read this sign …

The tithe barn is not quite as old as the farm, having been built some 300 years after the nuns were given the property by Ethelred the Unready. Apparently this meant ‘poorly advised’ and was a pun on his name which meant ‘well advised’.

He has quite a fascinating history …

But I digress – it’s so easy to get side-tracked and wander off down rabbit holes when I follow a research thread for my blogs. Let’s get back to the tithe barn and the other lovely old buildings on site.

There was a Granary on site which was now a gifts and homewares shop

The farmhouse which is a private residence

We stopped for coffee and cake in the converted little barn on site

If you walk through a gate at the side of the property you’ll find yourself at the River Avon. It’s not the one of Shakespeare fame though and I’m beginning to learn that place names, and river names, may be duplicated several times throughout this country How confusing 🫤

We also discovered another little bit of local history near the river, one of the 18,000 pillboxes constructed throughout England during WW2.

This little map shows where the Tithe Barn is in relation to where we are staying at the blue dot (Westbury) – and it also shows other very famous nearby landmarks such as Bath and Stonehenge. I feel like I’m living in history.

Our day has been fascinating… and there’s more to come as we decide to visit another nearby landmark, Farleigh Castle.

But that’s enough history for today … I’m saving the castle up for next time.