Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1918 — OLD GOTHIC BARNS [ARTICLE]

OLD GOTHIC BARNS

Great Structures in England Similar to Village Churches. Unapproachable in Dignity; Beautiful as Cathedrals; No Ostentation of the Builder’s Art. The great old stone barns of England, dating, many of them, from the fourteenth century, are, .comparatively speaking, little known to the general public, says the Christian Science Monitor. The beautiful architecture to be found in the English' village churches has received its full meed of appreciation, and so, though possibly In a slightly less degree, have the fine old manor houses which dot the countryside and provide a most Interesting study In the local variations which occur In the generally prevailing style at any given period. The barns, however, have been rather neglected, and literature on the subject Is practically nonexistent. Yet the barn Is intimately bound up with the history of the neighborhood In which It stands, and where, for possibly nearly 500 years, it has been fulfilling practically the same eminently Important functions, with little change, for the benefit of the folk in Its neighborhood. The methods of the farmer may vary, but the general routine of the countryside goes on, much the same, century after century, and the great barns still stand ready to house the people’s food as they have done, summer and winter, for so many hundred years. These old Gothic barns are very dignified and very beautiful buildings, comparable In some ways to the village churches whose contemporaries they are, and if they are less ornate, they are. In their simplicity, hardly less imposing. Indeed, some people would give the balance in favor of the barns in this matter. It is by no means always an easy matter to tell the precise date of these bains at first sight, but sometimes there is a little carving, a bit of tracery or a finial which will supply the clew, or possibly again, the form of a buttress may afford an indication; but fortunately there are generally local records to which access may be had containing f details of the origin and foundation of the%arns. 1 Among the famous fourteenth century barns of England are those at Glastonbury, Wells and Pilton in Somersetshire, Great Coxwell in Berkshire and Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire. These are all what may be described as barns of the first magnitude; great cruciform buildings which may well vie in size and dignity with many churches. Of the barn at Great Coxwell, William Morris said that it was “unapproachable in its dignity, as beautiful as a cathedral, yet with no ostentation of the builder’s art,” and he always declared that it was one of the finest buildings in England or anywhere else.