Winterbourne Medieval Barn

Explore this celebrated heritage site

An intriguing medieval site

Winterbourne Medieval Barn is a building of national importance. Built in 1342, just a few years before the Black Death swept across England, the barn is an extraordinary survivor of our medieval past. It was commissioned by Thomas de Bradeston, who was Lord of the Manor of Winterbourne from 1328 until his death in 1360.

Major building works have recently been completed with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and many other generous funders and donors to revitalise the whole Barn complex into a community heritage site promoting the knowledge of medieval history, its architecture, agricultural landscape and people.

What happens at the Barn

As a multi-purpose venue we host a range of activities for the local community including family activities, music and theatre performances, craft workshops, a monthly lecture series, and our flagship events the Medieval Fayre and Orchard Harvest Days.

The Barn makes a unique and beautiful setting for a magical wedding day and is available for hire all year round. The Barn and seminar rooms can also be hired for celebration events, film shoots, and meetings. Get in touch to find out more.

Next Events

Click here to go to our full event listing page.

Apple Grafting Workshop

Date: 22nd February 2025

Time: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Location: Winterbourne Medieval Barn

Learn More & Book

Come and learn how to graft apple trees on this course under the tuition of Tim Andrews, owner of Orchard Revival.

About your tutor:
Tim is a commercial cider maker and orchard specialist. He has over 20 years teaching experience and has featured on Gardeners World and Countryfile for his work on orchards.

Grafting is the process of propagating new trees. You take the scion wood which is a shoot from the apple tree that you wish to propagate, and then fuse it to a rootstock. The rootstock is the stem of another tree which has been selected for control of size of the new tree. This way you can clone fruit varieties, guaranteeing that you end up with the same apple as on the original tree.

You will learn why we graft, how to graft and put these skills into practice by forming at least three grafts that you can take away at the end of the day.

Tim will provide a range of root stocks, both apple and pear, for grafting. If you have a favourite that you wish to propagate, then bring your own wood to graft.

Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided throughout the workshop.

What to bring:
Please bring your own lunch and make sure you wear suitable clothing to keep you warm and comfortable (and that may get a little messy) whilst working in the main barn.
Knives, secateurs and scion wood will be supplied as part of the workshop, but you are very welcome to bring your own equipment and scions should you wish.

The primary purpose of this event is to raise money for WMBT and to support conservation, management, maintenance and improvement of the WMBT site.

If you wish to avoid the online booking fee then please contact the office to arrange a time to come and book in person.

Book here

A Brief History of Music: 600 years of music in 90 minutes

Date: 20th March 2025

Time: 7:30 pm

Location: Winterbourne Medieval Barn

Learn More & Book

Brief History of Music-website-pic-1 – GreenMatthews

We are delighted to welcome back GreenMatthews after their previous sell-out shows at The Barn.

‘A Brief History Of Music‘ takes in 600 years of musical history in 90 minutes! Beginning in the Middle Ages and ending up in the 20th century (and incorporating everything in between!) this fun and fast-moving show is a whistle-stop tour of Western musical history.

Featuring long forgotten songs and tunes (not to mention jokes!) GreenMatthews paint a vibrant and vivid picture of our musical DNA, mixing the familiar and the obscure, the raucous and the reflective and the courtly and the commonplace.
The show combines the vigour of the medieval period, the musical intricacy of the Renaissance, the grandeur of the Baroque and the pomp and bombast of Victoriana. Add to that the wit of Blackadder and 1066 And All That and the stage is set for a veritable musical feast!

Complete with a bewildering array of instruments such as virginal, rauschpfeife and lute (and that’s just the first 100 years!) ‘A Brief History of Music‘ uses tunes, songs and humour to take you on a musical journey from which you won’t want to return!

Parking for this event will be at The Barn. Full details will be sent in the pre-event email a few days before the event.
Please email us at ceara.foley@winterbournebarn.org.uk with your registration number and specific requirements, if you need a wheelchair accessible parking space and any accessible seating for the show so that we can arrange this for you.
Please do not park along church lane as this obstructs the road for other users and emergency vehicles.

There is plenty of bicycle parking at The Barn for those arriving on two wheels and space for drop off / collection if you would like to arrange this.

The Barn’s pop-up bar will be open for this event serving a small selection of drinks and snacks. Cash and card payments are accepted.

The primary purpose of this event is to raise money for WMBT and to support conservation, management, maintenance and improvement of the WMBT site.

If you wish to avoid the online booking fee then please contact the office to arrange a time to come and book in person.

Book here

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Weddings

We’re now taking enquiries and bookings for wedding celebrations. The Barn and grounds make a spectacular backdrop for a special occasion. At Winterbourne Medieval Barn you have the flexibility to create an event that is as unique as you are. Check out our weddings page for more information.