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Barn
The word barn originates from the Old English term for barley, a linguistic root that reveals the building's ancient purpose as a granary for grain. In the early medieval period, the term barn was not a generic term for any farm building but specifically denoted a storehouse for barley, derived from the Old English words for grain and a storage place. This etymological precision is preserved in the related words bere-tun and bere-flor, which both meant threshing floor, and bere-tun also meant granary. The only literary attestation of bere-hus, also granary, comes from the Dialogi of Gregory the Great, while there are four known mentions of bere-tun and two of bere-flor. A Thesaurus of Old English lists barn and meal-store house as synonyms, highlighting the building's primary function as a place to store food. The modern barn largely developed from the three-aisled medieval barn, commonly known as a tithe barn or monastic barn, which originated in a 12th-century building tradition applied in halls and ecclesiastical buildings. In the 15th century, several thousands of these huge barns were to be found in Western Europe, and over time, its construction method was adopted by normal farms and gradually spread to simpler buildings and other rural areas. As a rule, the aisled barn had large entrance doors and a passage corridor for loaded wagons, and the storage floors between the central posts or in the aisles were known as bays or mows, a term derived from Middle French moye.
From Monastery to Farmhouse
The evolution of the barn from a monastic tithe barn to a common farm structure reflects the shifting agricultural practices of medieval Europe. The main types were large barns with sideway passages, compact barns with a central entrance, and smaller barns with a transverse passage, the latter of which also spread to Eastern Europe. Whenever stone walls were applied, the aisled timber frame often gave way to single-naved buildings, marking a significant shift in construction techniques. A special type were byre-dwellings, which included living quarters, byres, and stables, such as the Frisian farmhouse or Gulf house and the Black Forest house. Not all barns evolved from the medieval barn; other types descended from the prehistoric longhouse or other building traditions. One of the latter was the Low German house, in which the harvest was stored in the attic. In many cases, the New World colonial barn evolved from the Low German house, which was transformed to a real barn by first-generation colonists from the Netherlands and Germany. The barns that were common to the wheatbelt held large numbers of pulling horses such as Clydesdales or Percherons, and these large wooden barns, especially when filled with hay, could make spectacular fires that were usually total losses for the farmers. With the advent of balers, it became possible to store hay and straw outdoors in stacks surrounded by a plowed fireguard, reducing the reliance on barns for hay storage.
The word barn originates from the Old English term for barley, revealing the building's ancient purpose as a granary for grain. In the early medieval period, the term barn specifically denoted a storehouse for barley, derived from the Old English words for grain and a storage place.
When did the modern barn develop from the medieval barn?
The modern barn largely developed from the three-aisled medieval barn, commonly known as a tithe barn or monastic barn, which originated in a 12th-century building tradition applied in halls and ecclesiastical buildings. In the 15th century, several thousands of these huge barns were to be found in Western Europe, and over time, its construction method was adopted by normal farms.
Why are many American barns painted red?
The iconic red color of many American barns is the result of ferric oxide, which was the cheapest and most readily available chemical for farmers in New England and nearby areas. Another possible reason for painting barns red with white trim is that ferric oxide acts as a preservative, helping to protect the structure from UV damage and the elements.
What is the physics term barn?
The physics term barn is a subatomic unit of area measuring 10 to the power of negative 28 square meters, which came from experiments with uranium nuclei during World War II. During these experiments, uranium nuclei were described colloquially as being big as a barn, and the measurement was officially adopted to maintain security around nuclear weapons research.
How did the term threshold originate from the barn?
The term threshold originates from the board across the doorway of a threshing barn, which was used to prevent grain from spilling out of the barn. The design of threshing barns typically remained unchanged between the 12th and 19th centuries, and they were characterized by large double doors in the center of one side and a smaller one on the other.
What is the largest freestanding barn in the United States?
The Starke Round Barn in Red Cloud, Nebraska, is the largest freestanding barn in the United States. A round barn, built in a round shape, is a term often generalized to include polygonal barn and octagonal barn, and the Starke Round Barn in Red Cloud, Nebraska, is the largest freestanding barn in the United States.
The iconic red color of many American barns is the result of ferric oxide, which was the cheapest and most readily available chemical for farmers in New England and nearby areas. Another possible reason for painting barns red with white trim is that ferric oxide acts as a preservative, helping to protect the structure from UV damage and the elements. The custom of painting barns in red with white trim is widely spread in Scandinavia, and especially in Sweden, the Falu red with white trims is the traditional coloring of most wooden buildings. In the mid to late 19th century, barn framing methods in the U.S. began to shift away from traditional timber framing to truss framed or plank framed buildings. Truss or plank framed barns reduced the number of timbers, instead using dimensional lumber for the rafters, joists, and sometimes the trusses. The joints began to become bolted or nailed instead of being mortised and tenoned, and the inventor and patentee of the Jennings Barn claimed his design used less lumber, less work, less time, and less cost to build, while being durable and providing more room for hay storage. Mechanization on the farm, better transportation infrastructure, and new technology like a hay fork mounted on a track contributed to a need for larger, more open barns. Sawmills using steam power could produce smaller pieces of lumber affordably, and machine cut nails were much less expensive than hand-made wrought nails. Concrete block began to be used for barns in the early 20th century in the U.S., and modern barns are more typically steel buildings.
The Physics of a Subatomic Unit
The physics term barn, which is a subatomic unit of area measuring 10 to the power of negative 28 square meters, came from experiments with uranium nuclei during World War II. During these experiments, uranium nuclei were described colloquially as being big as a barn, and the measurement was officially adopted to maintain security around nuclear weapons research. This scientific adoption of the term highlights the barn's cultural ubiquity, as it was a familiar object to scientists and engineers working on the Manhattan Project. The barn's influence extends beyond agriculture and architecture into the realm of quantum physics, where it serves as a standard unit of measurement for cross-sections in nuclear reactions. The term barn is also used in idioms such as he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, which is a popular expression for a person having poor aim when throwing an object or when shooting at something. To lock the barn door after the horse has bolted implies that one has solved a problem too late to prevent it, and were you born or raised in a barn is an accusation used differently in various parts of the English-speaking world, but most commonly as a reprimand when someone exhibits poor manners by either using ill-mannered language, particularly if related to manure, or leaving doors open. Your barn door is open is used as a euphemism to remind someone to zip the fly of their trousers, and to barnstorm is to travel quickly around a large area making frequent public appearances.
The Threshold and the Threshing Floor
The term threshold originates from the board across the doorway of a threshing barn, which was used to prevent grain from spilling out of the barn. This architectural feature is depicted in a painting from 1894 by Klavdy Lebedev titled the floor or the threshing floor, which shows Russian women using a hand-powered winnowing machine in a threshing barn. The design of threshing barns typically remained unchanged between the 12th and 19th centuries, and they were characterized by large double doors in the center of one side, a smaller one on the other, and storage for cereal harvest or unprocessed on either side. In England, the grain was beaten from the crop by flails and then separated from the husks by winnowing between these doors. The large doors allowed for a horse wagon to be driven through, and the smaller ones allowed for the sorting of sheep and other stock in the spring and summer. In older style North American barns, the upper area was used to store hay and sometimes grain, and this is called the mow, which rhymes with cow. A large door at the top of the ends of the barn could be opened up so that hay could be put in the loft, and the hay was hoisted into the barn by a system containing pulleys and a trolley that ran along a track attached to the top ridge of the barn. Trap doors in the floor allowed animal feed to be dropped into the mangers for the animals, and in New England, it is common to find barns attached to the main farmhouse, allowing for chores to be done while sheltering the worker from the weather.
The Bridge and the Cantilever
A bridge barn in Switzerland is a type of barn accessed by a bridge rather than a ramp, and in this case, the bridge also shelters animals. The bridge barn is a general term for barns accessed by a bridge rather than a ramp, and it is a type of barn that has been classified by its function, structure, location, or other features. Sometimes the same building falls into multiple categories, and a cantilever barn is a type of log crib barn with cantilevered upper floors which developed in Appalachia in the U.S.A. A bank barn is a multilevel building built into a banking so the upper floor is accessible to a wagon, sometimes accessed by a bridge or ramp. A combination barn is found throughout England, especially in areas of pastoral farming, and is the standard barn type in America, meaning the barns were used for both crop storage and as a byre to house animals. A crib barn is a horizontal log structure with up to four cribs, which are assemblies of crossing timbers, found primarily in the southern U.S.A. A pole barn is a simple structure that consists of poles embedded in the ground to support a roof, with or without exterior walls, and the pole barn lacks a conventional foundation, thus greatly reducing construction costs. Traditionally used to house livestock, hay, or equipment, the pole barn is a type of barn that has been classified by its function, structure, location, or other features. A round barn, built in a round shape, is a term often generalized to include polygonal barn and octagonal barn, and the Starke Round Barn in Red Cloud, Nebraska, is the largest freestanding barn in the United States.
The Silent Spaces of History
Old farm buildings of the countryside contribute to the landscape and help define the history of the location, showing how farming took place in the past and how the area has been settled throughout the ages. They also can show the agricultural methods, building materials, and skills that were used, and most were built with materials reflecting the local geology of the area. Building methods include earth walling and thatching, and buildings in stone and brick, roofed with tile or slate, increasingly replaced buildings in clay, timber, and thatch from the later 18th century. Metal roofs started to be used from the 1850s, and the arrival of canals and railways brought about transportation of building materials over greater distances. Clues determining their age and historical use can be found from old maps, sale documents, estate plans, and from a visual inspection of the building itself, noting reused timbers, former floors, partitions, doors, and windows. The arrangement of the buildings within the farmstead can also yield valuable information on the historical farm usage and landscape value. Linear farmsteads were typical of small farms, where there was an advantage to having cattle and fodder within one building, due to the colder climate, and dispersed clusters of unplanned groups were more widespread. Loose courtyard plans built around a yard were associated with bigger farms, whereas carefully laid out courtyard plans designed to minimize waste and labor were built in the latter part of the 18th century. The barns are typically the oldest and biggest buildings to be found on the farm, and many barns were converted into cow houses and fodder processing and storage buildings after the 1880s. Many barns had owl holes to allow for access by barn owls, encouraged to aid vermin control, and the stable is typically the second-oldest building type on the farm, well built and placed near the house due to the value that the horses had as draught animals.
The Last of the Wooden Giants
With the popularity of tractors following World War II, many barns were taken down or replaced with modern Quonset huts made of plywood or galvanized steel. Beef ranches and dairies began building smaller loftless barns, often of Quonset huts or of steel walls on a treated wood frame, using old telephone or power poles. By the 1960s, it was found that cattle receive sufficient shelter from trees or wind fences, which are usually wooden slabs 20% open. In the middle of the twentieth century, the large broad roof of barns were sometimes painted with slogans in the United States, and most common of these were the 900 barns painted with ads for Rock City. In the past, barns were often used for communal gatherings, such as barn dances, and some English barns would have a gin gang, a semi-circular extension added to house a horse engine. In North Yorkshire, cowhouses would have a muck hole, or muck'ole in the local dialect, to allow manure to be deposited outside the barn without the cowhand leaving the building. In North Yorkshire, a cowhouse would have a small door or forking hole, or forking'ole in the local dialect, high up on the wall to enable fodder to be forked into the baux or baulks, which is the hayloft. Some English barns would have a gin gang, a semi-circular extension added to house a horse engine, and in the U.S., older barns were built from timbers hewn from trees on the farm and built as a log crib barn or timber frame, although stone barns were sometimes built in areas where stone was a cheaper building material. The Texas Technological College Dairy Barn in Lubbock, Texas, U.S., was used as a teaching facility until 1967, and the Grange Barn, Coggeshall, England, originally part of the Cistercian monastery of Coggeshall, was dendrochronologically dated from 1237 to 1269 and was restored in the 1980s by the Coggeshall Grange Barn Trust, Braintree District Council, and Essex County Council.