Paston Great Barn

Paston Great Barn is a medieval barn near Paston Hall on the southeast edge of the village of Paston, in northeast Norfolk. It is owned by the North Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust. It dates from 1581 and is associated with the Paston family. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a grade II* Listed Building.[1] It is also a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest,[2][3] a National Nature Reserve[4] and a Special Area of Conservation.[5] It is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[6]

Paston Great Barn
The Barn in 2010
TypeBarn
LocationPaston
Coordinates52°51′25″N 1°26′51″E
OS grid referenceTG 32192 34539
AreaNorfolk
Built1581
Governing bodyNatural England
OwnerNorth Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name: Paston Great Barn
Designated16 April 1955
Reference no.1306240
Official name: Great Barn, Paston
Reference no.1002884
Official name: Paston Great Barn SSSI
Designated23 December 1999
Official name: Paston Great Barn SAC
DesignatedApril 2005
Reference no.UK0030235
Location of Paston Great Barn in Norfolk

The barn

It is a long, low barn, with a thatched roof, and walls built of brick, flint and limestone. It has large doors with timber lintels. The barn was commissioned by Sir William Paston III as a grain store and threshing barn. It is approximately 70 metres long, 9 metres wide and 16 metres high. It has been granted Grade II* Listed Building status by English Heritage due to its architectural and historical importance. There are three 30-metre long Victorian wings on the eastern side of the barn, added to house cattle. Unusually for a barn it has two date stones, one over an entrance and one in a gable end.[7] Additionally, a plaque over the south door records: "THE BILDING OF THIS BEARNE IS Bl SIR W PASTON KNIGHTE".[1]

The barn and its immediate surroundings, an area of 0.95 hectares was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature in 1999, and from April 2005, the site has also been designated as a Special Area of Conservation.[8]

In 2002, English Nature, now Natural England, started a 50-year lease of the barn. There is currently no public access into the barn, partly in order to minimise disturbance to the bats, although some educational interpretation at the site is being considered for the future.

Bats

The barn is one of only six known maternity roosts in Britain for the barbastelle bat, a species which is rare at a European scale, and it is the only roost which is in a building.[9] The colony was discovered in 1996. The Barbastelles mostly roost in large crevices in timber lintels over the barn doors. Their feeding grounds are believed to include nearby coastal cliffs.

Breeding colonies of Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri), brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) and common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) also inhabit the barn.

Notes
  1. Historic England. "PASTON GREAT BARN (1306240)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  2. "Designated Sites View: Paston Great Barn". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  3. "Map of Paston Great Barn". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  4. "Designated Sites View: Paston Great Barn". National Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  5. "Designated Sites View: Paston Great Barn". Special Areas of Conservation. Natural England. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  6. "Norfolk Coast AONB Management Plan 2014-19: Other Conservation Designations within the AONB" (PDF). Norfolk Coast AONB. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  7. Hughes, Graham (1985). Barnes of Rural England. London: Herbert Press. pp. 69–70. ISBN 0 906969 36 0.
  8. "Paston Great Barn". National Archives. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2018.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  9. "1308 Barbastelle". National Archives. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2018.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
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References
  • "Bats at Paston Great Barn" by John and Sue Goldsmith, 2001 Norfolk Bird and Mammal Report
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