The Great Barn and Oast

The Great Barn is believed to be the largest surviving Medieval barn in East Sussex. It was built in the 15th century and seems to be contemporary with Sir Thomas Etchingham’s construction of the house in the 1460s or 70s. Sir Thomas was the biggest landowner in the area and the barn’s size shows the significance of the estate in the late Middle Ages. In the 19th century an oast house was added on the south side reducing the size of the barn to its present seven bays.

The Great Barn is a rare survival that hasn’t been converted into domestic use and contains a wealth of historic features. These include sections of the original wattle and daub, evidence of Medieval feeding troughs, an 18th century grain store, two wagon ways and parts of the threshing floor. Mortices cut in the posts show that the barn was originally divided into livestock pens.

The adjoining oast contains most of its original fittings including three kilns and drying floors and a press for filling the hop pickets. On the ground floor the ceiling joists are inscribed with hop pickers’ graffiti. There are photographs in the National Monuments Record showing the oasts in operation in the early 20th century.

Work on repairing the Great Barn and oast will take place over the winter of 2011-12 and in the spring of 2012 the building will open to the public for the first time. The repairs will be sensitive and conservative and the barn will retain its dusty, atmospheric feel.

The Great Barn with its catslide roof and distinctive oast cowls is an important part of the Dixter skyline and dominates the north side of the garden. The barn plays an essential role in the life of the estate and is used regularly for making hurdles as well as supports and fencing for the garden.

We still need to find £75,000 to complete the conservation of these historic buildings.

The Great Dixter archives, applied art and social history and collections

The Great Dixter archives are a rich and practically unknown horticultural and architectural resource including Lutyens drawings and extensive material relating to Christopher Lloyd, his father, the architectural historian Nathaniel Lloyd, and notebooks, letters and photographs that chronicle the development of the garden through the 20th century. An archivist is cataloguing these records to make them more accessible to the public.

Nathaniel and Daisy Lloyd furnished Great Dixter in the early 20th century with fine 16th, 17th and 18th century pieces, choosing functional furniture that complemented the Arts and Crafts style of Lutyens’ renovation. Tapestries provided relief from bare plaster walls and chairs and tables were decorated with embroidery by members of the family. The Lloyds’ furnishing scheme remains in place to this day, representing an unusually comprehensive example of Edwardian taste.

A curator has been employed to oversee the cataloguing of the furniture and the myriad of social history items used by the Lloyd family in the house and on the wider estate over nearly 100 years of living at Great Dixter. The archivist and curator will produce literature and displays in the North and Great Barns when these open to the public in 2012.

The archive and curatorial programme has received support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Foyle Foundation, the Dulverton Trust and the Friends of Great Dixter.

The trust is still seeking funds to cover the cost of conservation work on the collections.

There are many ways that you can help