Calcot Manor is a historic building in Calcot, three and a half miles west of

Tetbury Tetbury is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish inside the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district in Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon monastery was found ...

on A 4135 in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, near the junction of roads A46 and A4135 (National

Grid Reference A projected coordinate systemalso called a projected coordinate reference system, planar coordinate system, or grid reference systemis a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on Earth using Cartesian coordinate system, Car ...

ST 841180 94891). The original building was established in approximately 1300 AD by Henry of Kingswood as a

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...

annex of Kingswood Abbey. The estate was expanded to include a 16th-century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

and other buildings. Structures added from the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

to the mid-17th century include a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

s and other buildings. The buildings are all constructed from

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

; which are locally quarried stones that are typically flat and easily stacked for drystone wall purposes.

Roman period

It is known that there was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

presence at the site as early as the 5th century AD based upon the archeological finds of carved stones,

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum#Numismatics, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction during the Roman Republic, Republic, in the third century BC, through Roman Empire, Imperial ...

and other discoveries. Many Roman artefacts have been discovered at Calcot, some of which are displayed at the Gloucester City Museum and the Stroud Museum. One of the principal finds is a curved, ornate limestone

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

. This stone had originally been embedded in the wall of the tithe barn. This stone is now in the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. The bas-relief is classified as a tombstone, on which a Roman officer is shown on horseback carrying a

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

. Behind the officer is the standard bearer with his insignia. As of Baddeley’s publication in 1925, the stone was still embedded within the inner barn wall.

Middle Ages

The original datestone can be seen in the porch of the tithe barn and reads: "ANNOGRE MCCC HENRICI ABBATIS XXIX FAI DOM H EDIFICATA", verifying founding by Abbot Henry in the year 1300 during the reign of King

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

. The barn is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and has so-called arrow slits in the end walls. The remains of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

warren were unearthed in 2004. when the groundworks for a new spa extension to the hotel were being excavated. A tunnel was found extending at least 100 metres beneath the main manor house garden terrace. The tunnel is intact as of 2004, but has not yet been fully explored. Earth bore tunnels of this type are sometimes associated with

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

abbeys, palaces, and castles as secret escape routes if the site were under siege. The hamlet of Calcot was listed in

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086 AD), as being in the Hundred of Berkeley. Although named a barn, its earliest origins and uses remain obscure due to architectural features that are not consistent with a barn or granary. For example, the upper level arrow slits situated on the west side is somewhat difficult to define as to early use, although somewhat wider arrow slits are known to have been used in 17th-century times as granary vents. According to Lumina Technologies: "The Calcot arrow slits for

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Respirator, a ma ...

are typically at least ten centimetres wide to ensure that owls could freely enter and prey upon any mice that could harm the

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

stocks".

Middle ages to 18th century

When the English abbeys were dissolved in the early to middle 16th century, the Calcot property became property of the King of England, who in turn granted Calcot to Nicholas Poyntz. In 1559 Calcot was sold to Thomas Parry. Then in 1598 ownership of Calcot passed to Sir Thomas Estcourt, who was accumulating many other properties in the parishes of Newington Bagpath. The tithe barn was struck by lightning in 1728, and restoration was completed a year later, with the datestone embedded in the porch interior wall. The entire Calcot property remained in the possession of the Estcourt Family until the early 19th century. A 1790 drawing of the tithe barn reveals the presence of an array of seven and possibly eight arrow slits across the front face of the structure. The slits were situated somewhat higher than the front-facing windows. These arrow slits are no longer present in the restored tithe barn. The Sites and Monuments Record, SMR 2931/2, indicates that a small chapel previously existed on site, but was demolished most likely in the early 19th century. An ink drawing by

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

of the

in 1790 shows the medieval arches of the early chapel.

20th century to the present

In 1928, Mary Emery bought the ruined Calcot Tithe Barn roof and had it shipped to

Mariemont, Ohio Mariemont (pronounced ) is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in eastern Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A planned community in the Cincinnati metropolitan area, ...

as individual roofing tiles. The tiles were used to build the roof of the Mariemont town church.Barbara Hornby, "From tithe barn to church roof", ''Local History Magazine'', no. 90 May 4, 2002 Moss and lichens remained on the tiles, adding to the antique appearance wanted by Mariemont designers. Mariemont was created in imitation of the architecture of a medieval European town. In 1970 the farm elements were relocated nearby, leaving all the old stone buildings surplus to farm requirements. The Ball family bought the Calcot estate in the early 1980s and began to convert the buildings for use as a hotel, the work continuing through the next decade. Louisa and Michael Stone, previously frequent guests, bought Calcot in early 1992 and restored the tithe barn in the early 2000s. By 2006 Calcot Manor had become an upmarket hotel and tourist destination in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

References

External links