The Barn: The Extraordinary Life of an Unremarkable Building

by Sally Coulthard

The astonishing, socio-historic uncovering of a vanished agricultural way of life by best-selling nature writer Sally Coulthard.
Dominating the farmyard of the house where Sally Coulthard and her husband live in the gentle Howardian Hills of North Yorkshire is a large, stone-built barn. When Sally discovered a set of ancient 'witch-marks' scratched into the wall of the barn, she became intrigued by the sturdy old building and the story behind it.
The Barn is hence a socio-historic exploration of a small patch of Yorkshire countryside - hidden, insignificant, invisible to the rest of the world - which has experienced extraordinary changes. From the last of the enclosures to the boom days of Victorian high farming, the fortunes of the barn have been repeatedly upturned by the unstoppable forces of agriculture and industry. Medicine, transport, education, farming, women's roles, war, technology - every facet of society was played out, in miniature, here. The walls of the barn are a palimpsest, written onto - and now about - by three hundred years of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Nature

320 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2021

About the author

After studying Archaeology & Anthropology at Oxford University, best-selling author and designer Sally Coulthard has spent the last twenty years designing, making and writing about homes, craft and outdoor spaces. She sees no boundary between the rules that govern good interior design and those which are needed to craft a spectacular studio or glorious garden.

Keen to make good design accessible, she’s written over twenty books about restoring houses, designing interiors and outdoor living. From garden styles to craftsmanship, creating workspaces to building sheds, Sally’s books inspire, encourage and equip readers to take on projects of their own.

Sally is a passionate advocate of rural living and regularly writes about nature and her experiences of smallholding deep in North Yorkshire countryside, including her ‘Good Life in Country’ column for Country Living magazine.

Reviews

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find myself more and more becoming a Sally Coulthard stan. The Barn is a bit of magic; Coulthard transports us back in time, telling us the story of the actual barn that she owns, on a former working farm in England. In this day and age, when we are all so separated from the land from which comes our food, this is a delightful, moving, and yes, extraordinary reminder of a life that used to be. They weren’t the good old days - Coulthard doesn’t sugarcoat the lives of farmhands and servants - but there is definitely good in the old ways of growing food and raising livestock.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Barn' is an absorbing microhistory following the lives and concerns of the people working in a small corner of rural Yorkshire, primarily during the nineteenth century. As with all good microhistories, not only does it bring to life these previously little noticed farmers, labourers, women and children, as well as the people - 'improvers', landowners, churchmen - who directly affected them, but it ties in with the wider narrative of the age. The years between the accession of George I and the end of the First World War saw considerable social, economic, and geographical change and 'The Barn' plugs in to all these major themes: the impact - for good or ill - of industrialization, the revolutions in transport, economic booms and busts, wars and social unrest. Through this, the inexorable march of 'progress' is analysed and the benefits and drawbacks are thus laid bare.

Many such histories either celebrate the approach of modernity in classic progressive fashion, or romanticize the supposed 'innocency' and 'simplicity' of pre-industrial societies. 'The Barn' strikes the balance between these extremes perfectly. There is a sense of nostalgia, or at least sympathy, for the lives of those studied, but there are no rose-tinted spectacles. Life on the farm was hard, often with working conditions and pay at worse levels than city counterparts, and 'The Barn' is one of the few mainstream, popular histories to emphasize the point. Yet this doesn't take away from the book's charm. It is engaging and filled with the gentle humour and fascinating facts that are an integral part of Coulthard's written style. It is a challenge to all to accept the countryside, and the past, for what it is (and was), and it is a celebration of the true nature of life on the farm.

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book by this author, and I will look for more. This was a fascinating read and an easy way into the social history of rural life in this area of North Yorkshire (and the U.K. in general). It was made particularly relevant for me as I read it while holidaying in a converted barn just outside Scarborough - very close to the actual location of ‘The Barn’ of this book, near Helmsley, Malton and the Howardian Hills. There is no index, but the contents page is detailed enough to enable one to home in on relevant sections, and the endnotes give sources for the author’s research.

[Peg Lotvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading about the barn on her property in Yorkshire, England built 250 years previously. Not just about the barn, but about the lives of the people who lived in the area of the barn during those 250 years. The book progresses from the early days of English agriculture with oxen to more modern times of trains, tractors and motor cars. An amazing amount of research was done to compile the history.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Local history, lots of facts merged into stories bringing characters and places to life.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating potted history of agriculture! I learnt a lot, so well written.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Coulthard marries a landscape artist in the UK, they buy a beautiful piece of property, with a barn. She uncovers some mysterious drawings on the barn wall, and decides to research her barn's history...the corner stones date back to the Roman empire, and this story wonderfully details the incredible and yet basic history of this lovely place. I love how the author makes her home and the land she lives on come alive, in simple details and history––why certain crops thrived, and others didn't; who lived in the area and what were their lives like; her own attachment to this beautiful place. I so enjoyed this book; for its simplicity and lovely writing.