Wanborough Great Barn

Being at a free end on a Sunday afternoon I was delighted to find that the Great Barn at Wanborough, just off the Hog's Back near Guildford, was open. This only opens for a handful of Sundays each year, so it was too good an opportunity to miss, and there was also the expectation of tea and cake available!

The barn was originally built by the Cistercian Monks of nearby Waverley Abbey in the 1100s, and enlarged and rebuilt after a fire in 1388 to the structure you see today. It was used to store the whole crop of the manor of Wanborough, set up as a grange or farm supplying the abbey.

A history of the barn and its links to the locality, including MPs and a training area for SOE operatives in WWII, is displayed inside and normally tea would be served. However due to scaffolding for urgent repairs I had to decamp to the nearby village hall for that, via the 13th century church of St Barthomew (extra), originally built in 1030 and included in Doomsday Book it is one of the smallest churches in Surrey,

All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon!