The Tithe Barn,

Sturry Sturry is a village on the Great Stour river situated northeast of Canterbury in Kent. Its large civil parish incorporates several hamlets and, until April 2019, the former mining village of Hersden. Geography Sturry lies at the old Roman ju ...

, Kent, England is a barn dating from the early 16th century. The barn was built as the

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...

for the grange of

St Augustine's Abbey St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. At the Dissolution of the monasteries, the grange came into the ownership of

Thomas Smythe Sir Thomas Smythe (or Smith, c. 1558 – 4 September 1625) was an English merchant, politician and colonial administrator. He was the first governor of the East India Company and treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 until envel ...

who converted some of the buildings into a country house, Sturry Court. The barn continued in use for agricultural storage. In the early 20th century, Sturry Court was the country home of

Alfred Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From De ...

who renamed it Milner Court. On his death in 1925, his widow, Violet, gifted the estate to

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain ...

which operated a preparatory school on the site. The school was opened by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much o ...

, a friend of the Milners, in 1929. The site is now the Junior School for The King's School and the tithe barn has been restored and repurposed as a performing arts centre. "Sturry's most memorable building", the tithe barn is a Grade I listed structure.

History

The Abbey of St Augustine was founded in

in 598. As was common, the abbey established a number of granges on its lands, which operated as agricultural estates generating revenues and produce for the abbey. The resulting produce, and the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

s (taxes) collected by the abbey, were stored in

s. The tithe barn at Sturry is a late manifestation of this economic system, dating from the early 16th century. Within some forty years of its construction, the Dissolution of the monasteries brought an end to the religious houses and the granges which had supported them. That at Sturry was bought by

who built a country house on the site, which he named Sturry Court. In the early 20th century, Sturry Court, renamed Milner Court, was the country home of

Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, (23 March 1854 – 13 May 1925) was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s. From ...

. Milner served as

High Commissioner for Southern Africa The British office of high commissioner for Southern Africa was responsible for governing British possessions in Southern Africa, latterly the protectorates of Basutoland (now Lesotho), the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) and Swaziland ...

, was a cabinet minister in several British governments during and after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and was a notable proponent of

British imperialism The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts est ...

. On his death in 1925, his widow, Violet, gave the Sturry estate to

which developed a preparatory school on the site. It was opened by

, a friend of the Milners, in 1929. The site is now the Junior School for The King's School and the tithe barn has been restored and repurposed as a performing arts centre and assembly hall.

Architecture

John Newman, in his 2013 revised edition, ''Kent: North East and East'', in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, calls the tithe barn, "Sturry's most memorable building". The barn is constructed of

red brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

with its tiled roof supported by ten

king post A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...

s. It is in length. The tithe barn is a Grade I listed structure.

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , last = Page , first = William , chapter = The Abbey of St Augustine , title = The History of Kent , volume = 2 , series =

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

, year = 1926 , location = London , publisher = St Catherine’s Press , url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/kent/vol2/pp126-133 , oclc = 222576181 Grade I listed buildings in Kent Buildings and structures completed in the 16th century Grade I listed agricultural buildings Barns in England Tithe barns in Europe