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.
Tithe barns would usually have been barns often associated with the village church or rectory, to which independent farmers took their tithes.
The village priests wouldn't have to pay tithes. They had their own farms, which are now village greens in some villages.
There are many surviving examples of medieval tithe barns in England:
- Aberford C of E Primary School, Aberford, Leeds (Aberford School was based on a redundant tithe barn)
- Bank Hall Barn, Bretherton, Lancashire
- Bradford-on-Avon tithe barn
- Church of the Holy Ghost, Midsomer Norton, Somerset
- Tithe Barn, Dunster, Dunster
- East Riddlesden Hall (National Trust)
- Great Coxwell Tithe Barn, Oxfordshire
- Harmondsworth Great Barn, Harmondsworth, Middlesex
- Melling Tithebarn, Merseyside c.18th Century
- Middle Littleton tithe barn
- Nether Poppleton Tithebarn, City of York
- Swalcliffe Barn, Oxfordshire
- Tithe Barn, Maidstone, Kent
- Tithe Barn, Pilton, Somerset
- The Bishop's Barn, Wells, Somerset
- Tithe Barn, Manor Farm, Doulting, Somerset
- West Pennard Court Barn
- Bishop's Cleeve Tithe Barn, Gloucestershire
One surviving example of a medieval tithe barn in Germany:
- Castle of Lissingen, Rhineland-Palatinate
Famous quotes containing the words tithe and/or barn:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 23:23.
“Then when he saw it could hold no more,
Bishop Hatto, he made fast the door;
And while for mercy on Christ they call,
He set fire to the barn and burnt them all.”
—Robert Southey (1774–1843)