Leigh Court Barn

An outstanding display of English medieval carpentry, this mighty timber-framed barn is the largest cruck structure in Britain.

Built for Pershore Abbey in about 1325, it is over 42 metres (140 feet) long, with 18 cruck blades each made from a single oak tree. 

There were once other farm buildings and houses, and the abbot himself is known to have sometimes resided here.

Medieval monasteries owned farmland that could supply them with food and raw materials, either directly, or indirectly through the sale of surplus produce. Monastic farms, known as granges, were often large-scale operations, and the size and magnificence of the grange barn at Leigh Court suggests that the Pershore Abbey farm was a well-organised and lucrative business.

Radiocarbon dating. though not conclusive, supports the evidence of carpentry techniques that date the barn to the 14th century, probably about 1325.