The barn here at Manor Farm is a very fine example of its type. It is about 90 feet long and 29 feet wide. It is divided into 8 bays. It was built in around 1495 to store all the crops from the manor farm. The plinth supporting the timbers is built of locally quarried Jarassic limestone and varies in height to accommodate the slope of the ground. The internal plinths between the bays are also of different heights, so that although the floor is 31 inches lower at the west end than the east end, the wall plate that carries the timber superstructure is level throughout.

The arcade posts in the door are about 16 feet tall and these have a thicker section or "jowell" at the top to accommodate the complex joint where the tie beam between the two asile posts meets the longitudinal arcade plate or purlin and the principal rafter. There are curved or arched braces from each asile post to the tie beam and the arcade plate to stop the vertical posts leaning laterally or longitudinally. There are additional "passing braces" from the wall posts through beams which tie the aisle posts to the top of the wall to the aisle posts. The upper perlins which support the roof rafters are supported by raked "queen posts" jointed into the tie beam.

During the period from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, the major landowners ofEnglandwere the monarchy, the nobility and the church. Land was the basis of their wealth and apart from a few areas of mineral production such as inCornwall,Somerset, the Weald inKentand parts of theMidlandsand the North, most of its wealth came from agriculture. Where the land was suitable for arable farming the landowners erected great barns to store and process the harvest of wheat, barley, and peas.

The majority of these barns were threshing barns,with one, two or even three high entrances on one side for the laden wagons to enter and lower doors opposite for the empty wagons to leave. The threshing floor lay between each pair of doors.  It could be made of beaten earth, stone flags or timber planks. After the harvest all through the winter, farm stalks using long handled wooden flails. Each opposite pair of doors was opened so that the through draught could winnow the chaff from the grain. A low plank threshold was inserted across the bottom of the doorway to keep the grain from getting into the farmyad and the animals from getting into the grain.

 

The Tythe Barn is situated at Manor Farm, which nestles close to the attractive duck pond and Church in the heart of the beautiful Buckinghamshire village of Haddenham.

The Bucknell family have farmed the land here for over 50 years, and along with arable cultivation are growing crops for biomass production and are members of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. The biomass crops consist of willow and miscanthus, and are used as a for fossil fuels.