Winterbourne Medieval Barn is a building of national importance. Built in 1342, just a few years before the great plagues swept across England, the barn is a unique survival of the medieval agrarian economy. It was commissioned by Thomas de Bradeston, who was Lord of the Manor of Winterbourne from 1328 until his death in 1360. Records suggest that he ‘dined with friends at Winterbourne in 1353’.
Sitting on a finger of fertile agricultural land in the north Bristol fringe in the South West of England, this great agricultural storehouse was in danger of collapse through neglect until it was purchased by South Gloucestershire Council, its current owner, in 1998. A programme of restoration on the Main Barn and the South Range began in 2002, jointly financed by the South Gloucestershire Council and English Heritage.
