Peckover Barn

To understand the context of this old thatched barn, so surprisingly standing in Chapel Road on the edge of Peckover House Gardens, one needs to realise that it is much older than almost any of the buildings that surround it. It was built about the year 1650. The Peckover properties are eighteenth century. No brewery existed as yet - there was a tannery on that site. All of this area was open farmland, and the Brink itself would have been a country road.

Mr Andrew Cochrane's house, at number 31 North Brink, now incorporated into a continuous row of houses, is believed to have been the farmhouse. It stood in isolation looking on to the river. The Barn, close behind it, can be approached through Peckover House Gardens. The height of the original doors (they have since been lowered) indicate that this was not a granary, but a threshing-floor. There the unfortunate workers had to spend many hours flailing and winnowing to extract the grain, and being overcome by the dust in the process. The poet, John Clare, described how he did this work in just such a barn opposite his home in Helpston. He much preferred writing poetry.

There is a blocked-up door at one end of the barn, and over it a small pointed niche which has also been blocked up but which was originally intended for ventilation.

In recent years the Barn has been re-thatched and the fabric completely restored. With the discreet addition of modern facilities and drugget covering the still uneven floor, the Barn is used occasionally for private parties, jazz concerts and Ceilidhs.

In the courtyard outside, a marquee can be erected over the imaginative paving which has been laid out as a maze.