A guide to medieval English tithe barns

the long version

"Great Medieval Tithe Barns still dot the English countryside. These beautifully constructed barns are simple, functional structures with extraordinary interior timber framing. More than 2000 tithe barns were built in England in the years between the Norman conquest in 1066 and 1400. Possibly 200 remain standing. They were built to store, process, and distribute the tithes - the one-tenth tax of the land - due from everyone for the support of the Church. In that agrarian society, the barns functioned very much as the banks of the church."--BOOK JACKET.