Tithe Barn, Maidstone
Encyclopedia
The Tithe Barn in Maidstone
, Kent
is a large two-storey stone building on the east side of Mill Street. It was constructed in the 14th century as a tithe barn
for the nearby Archbishop's Palace
and was later used as the palace's stables. The barn is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument. It is home to the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages.
rag-stone
rubble walls in six buttress
ed bays. The west façade features a projecting two-storey half-timbered
porch with stone ground floor construction and brick infilling at first floor level between the timber framing. The building has multiple doorways at both levels on the west façade with many small windows at high level and external stone steps leading up to the first floor of the porch. The tiled roof is of crown post
construction and is hipped
at both ends with a gable
over the porch.
.
The Museum is open from May to September each year on Wednesdays to Sundays and bank holiday
s. Entrance is free.
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
is a large two-storey stone building on the east side of Mill Street. It was constructed in the 14th century as a tithe barn
Tithe barn
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing the tithes - a tenth of the farm's produce which had to be given to the church....
for the nearby Archbishop's Palace
Archbishop's Palace, Maidstone
The Archbishop's Palace is an historic 14th-century and 16th-century building on the east bank of the River Medway in Maidstone, Kent. Originally a home from home for travelling Archbishops from Canterbury, the building is today principally used as a venue for wedding services...
and was later used as the palace's stables. The barn is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument. It is home to the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages.
Construction
The barn is constructed of roughly coursedCourse (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
rag-stone
Rag-stone
Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones which are quarried in thin pieces, such as the Horsham sandstone, Yorkshire stone, the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. By rag-stone, near London, is meant an excellent material from the...
rubble walls in six buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
ed bays. The west façade features a projecting two-storey half-timbered
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
porch with stone ground floor construction and brick infilling at first floor level between the timber framing. The building has multiple doorways at both levels on the west façade with many small windows at high level and external stone steps leading up to the first floor of the porch. The tiled roof is of crown post
King post
A king post is a central vertical supporting post used in architectural, bridge, or aircraft design applications.-Architecture:...
construction and is hipped
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
at both ends with a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
over the porch.
Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages
The Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages was established by Mayor of Maidstone Gerrard Tyrwhitt-Drake who amassed the collection of horse-drawn vehicles in the first part of the 20th century. The museum opened in 1946 and was the first carriage museum in Britain. Among its collection of 60 vehicles are sedan chairs and Queen Victoria's state landauLandau (carriage)
A landau is a coachbuilding term for a type of four-wheeled, convertible carriage. See also Landau .It is lightweight and suspended on elliptical springs. It was invented in the 18th century and was named after the German city of Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate where they were first produced...
.
The Museum is open from May to September each year on Wednesdays to Sundays and bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
s. Entrance is free.
See also
- All Saints Church, MaidstoneAll Saints Church, MaidstoneAll Saints is a parish church in Maidstone, Kent. It is a Grade I listed building, and is described as the grandest Perpendicular style church in Kent.-Establishment and dissolution:...
- College of All Saints, MaidstoneCollege of All Saints, MaidstoneThe College of All Saints was an ecclesiastical college in Maidstone, Kent founded in 1395 by Archbishop Courtenay. It was part of the establishment of the nearby Archbishop's Palace, but was closed in 1546. The College church was the neighbouring Church of All Saints...
- Grade I listed buildings in Maidstone