Tithe Barn, Pilton
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| Tithe Barn | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| General information | |
| Location | Pilton, Somerset, England |
| Coordinates | 51°09′48″N 2°35′21″W / 51.1634°N 2.5891°W |
| Completed | 14th century |
| Client | Glastonbury Abbey |
The Tithe Barn at Cumhill Farm in Pilton, Somerset, England, was built in the 14th century as a tithe barn to hold produce for Glastonbury Abbey. It is a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument.[1]
The barn, of coursed and squared rubble,[1] was originally built in the 14th and 15th centuries to hold the produce from farms in the area who paid one tenth (tithe) of their produce to Glastonbury Abbey as the landowner. It is one of four surviving monastic barns built by the Abbey,[2] the others being the Tithe Barn, Manor Farm, Doulting, the West Pennard Court Barn and the Glastonbury tithe barn, now the Somerset Rural Life Museum.
During the Second World War, farms in Pilton were used to train the Women's Land Army, including Cumhill Farm and the medieval barn.[3]
Despite being commonly referred to as the tithe barn, little evidence exists to suggest the barn actually stored tithes. It is possible that it was instead built to store produce farmed from land owned by Glastonbury Abbey, rather than that offered as tithes, but may have stored tithes at a later date. Literature produced by the Pilton Barn Trust in the 1990s referred to it as "Pilton Barn" or the "Abbey Barn" and in 1963 a reverend local to the area claimed in the Cheddar Valley Gazette that another barn, since demolished, was actually responsible for storing tithe payments in the village.[4][5][6]
