Grange Barn, Coggeshall, England, was originally part of the Cistercian monastery of Coggeshall.

What is a Barn?

Barns around the world

Architecture should produce true realizations of solidified desires. — Salvador Dalí.

A barn is a building separate from the main house, traditionally used for storing farm animals, equipment, or grain.

A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes.

The barn is usually a large building for the storage of farm products or feed and usually for the housing of farm animals or farm equipment.

In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.

In the British Isles, the term barn is restricted mainly to storage structures for unthreshed cereals and fodder.

Half-timbered barn with brick infill. Uetersen, Germany.

This barn’s proportions resemble a Low German house.

Half-timbered barn with brick infill. Uetersen, Germany.

Lower Saxony, Germany.

A rare half-timbered barn with board infill in Syke, Lower Saxony, Germany.

A rare half-timbered barn with board infill in Syke, Lower Saxony, Germany.

In mainland Europe, however, barns were often part of integrated structures known as byre-dwellings.

In addition, barns may be used for equipment storage, as a covered workplace.

Stryd Lydan Barn, Flintshire, North Wales.

Half-timbered with wattle-work walls for ventilation.

Half-timbered with wattle-work walls for ventilation. Stryd Lydan Barn, originally at Llannerch Banna, Flintshire, North Wales.

Grange barn, Coggeshall, England.

This is a studded barn so the wall sheathing must be applied horizontally and covered with a siding material in this case clapboards…