Waxham Barn, located on Norfolk's east coast was built in the 1570s by the Woodhouse family, who lived next door in a big house.

The Woodhouse family were in fact the showbiz couple, the Posh and Becks, of the 16th century!

The couple's conspicuous consumption and blatant showing-off of their wealth in an agricultural building makes the barn one of the most important historical structures in the county.

Caroline Davison from Norfolk County Council's Conservation department said:

"There's a big barn at Paston which a lot of people know about, which is actually a few feet shorter but the roof structure is the same and it seems like the same people worked on the barn.

"Maybe the Woodhouses' were making the point that they were the big family of the area, so they built their barn a bit bigger."

Wildlife takeover

The huge barn door

Waxham Barn is very old and was constructed using bits of 14th and 15th century monasteries that the Woodhouses' had bought after Henry VIII closed them down.

Stepping into the barn, there's plenty of evidence that although neglected by humans, it's still in frequent use.

"The most important wildlife living here is a breeding colony of bats, who are here in the summer raising young, " said Caroline Davison.

"They live in the little cracks in the timber of the roof so you can't actually see them during the day, so luckily, we're not disturbing them.

"We've also got a large number of pigeons which we can't keep out because we have to allow the bats to get out, so the pigeons get back in.

"We've also got a barn owl living here," she added.

Stepping to the rescue

Norfolk County Council bought the building in 1991, as the previous owners could no longer afford to look after it.

In fact, this historic barn was almost lost to the county when it was threatened with demolition.

Immediately the council set about repairing the main barn, which was the most important bit on the site.

All the roof timbers,which had been blown down in the 1987 gale have been salvaged and the barn made weather-tight and safe.

Restoration plans

The next phase is the one that's going to happen very soon, which is repairing the four single story wings that come off each corner of the barn, and installing basic things like toilets and electricity so that the barn can be used by the public and accessed properly.

Alan Creasey is the Group Skills Assessment Manager from RG Carter Builders and is always inspired whenever he steps into Waxham Barn.

"It's a tremendous space. An ancient space. It's an agricultural cathedral!"

Alan will be over-viewing the next stage of development with the help of half a million pounds lottery grant.

Qualifications in conservation

During the restoration they'll be training people and offering GNVQ vocational qualifications in conservation restoration.

But the work will not start for another month.

Until then, the barn will be left to the bats, pigeons and owls and locked up.

The first chance you'll get to see the barn open will be on September 14th for the National Historic Open Day.

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