A Bit of Carpenters' Barn History

Carpenters’ Barn sits in the grounds of Garth House in Pillerton Hersey and although smaller than the main dwelling probably enjoyed greater status in its heyday.

The village was governed since Domesday times by the Manor, which still lies at the end of the driveway adjacent to ours, the one with the metal gate and tree-lined avenue. (Our drive is more humble, I doubt if the wooden 5 bar gate at the top of it would survive being moved!)

The estate was broken up and sold on in the late 1960’s with the two most outlying buildings being sold together on the plot of land which we acquired in the early 1990’s. Garth House was originally the piggery for the manor! It was converted in 1970 by a farseeing architect who had the vision to make it look like a concrete budget hotel.

If you’ve been here, believe it or not the majority of our house is authentic inside, we have the original arched piggery doorways and loads of exposed beams. The outside was dreary. Grey and dreary and covered in ivy. We painted it cream. It still looked dreary. The only thing to do was go wild with colour – we’ve learnt to live with it and have always loved the place which has been our home for over 30 years now.

Carpenters Barn was a tumbledown building when we bought the plot. It served as a garage/workshop for Garth House but going back through estate records it would seem to have been the general woodworkers' workshop for the whole estate. Both buildings have a stone built into them with the date 1865 on them which is when they would have been built for their original purpose.

Some 15 years ago we converted the workshop for my parents into the home you see today.

The conversion dug up some interest – when digging the foundations where the carport is today we found some sunken burnt bricks about 2ft lower than today’s ground level. We assume that this was the site of the blacksmith’s forge which served the stables (now the home behind Carpenters Barn.) We also unearthed a massive ammonite fossil around 30cms in diameter which obviously enjoyed its anaerobic existence as sadly it crumbled quite quickly once exposed.

Carpenters Barn has always been a happy place. Many of our guests comment on its peaceful and comforting nature. We like to think that we have rejuvenated the building and given it heart again…