Retired teacher Ken Bonham has a passion for historic threshing barns. He makes 3D models in 100th scale of them. He has visited hundreds of threshing barns all around the UK and Europe. He studies the history and construction of these barns and he gives illustrated talks on them. He is without a doubt a threshing barn connoisseur.
His interest in them began after retiring from a career in education. He was doing some consultancy for a software company, demonstrating and training teachers on how to use a mind-mapping program for education. Booked to do a three-day training course in Bristol, he and his wife, Maggie, decided to make a long weekend of it. “We do not like using motorways, so Maggie, navigates. On the way she noticed a Tythe Barn marked on the map, so we made a short detour to Ashleworth Tithe Barn. On the way back we called in at Middle Littleton Tithe Barn – and I was hooked!”
Before retirement Ken has taught from primary through to adults. Generally he worked with less academic students, which is where his interest in IT began. He also ran a city farm in Birmingham for eight years. Since retiring he has spent the last 12 years touring the country barn hunting.”
For Ken it was the roof structures that first attracted him to barns. He said, “I have always liked woodwork (although I had to do Latin at school rather than woodwork!) As I began to visit more barns I became interested in the history and also their social context.”
He created a website: www.greatbarns.org.uk categorising the many hundreds of barns that he has visited. He also provides detailed information, photographs, illustrations and articles, making for fascinating reading.
Travels to visit barns
“I’ve probably visited about 400 barns altogether,” said Ken. “Including the great barn at Ter Doest near Bruges and numerous barns in the open-air museums at Bokriik and Arnhem. Fortunately, my wife, a former history teacher, supports me in my passion. Although I have to promise her a medieval church plus shops and pavements at some point in our visits. But as the tithe barns are usually adjacent to the church and manor house, she usually finds plenty to interest her. If the barn has a farm shop or craft centre, she usually buys something, supporting the cause or the local economy.”
Ken discovers these barns by researching an area he and Maggie plan on taking a trip to.They often keep costs down by staying at holiday parks using the Sun £9.50 vouchers. He finds the English Heritage website and Historic England website useful sources of information. Some of the barns are owned by the National Trust, some are administered by Historic England and some are privately owned. Historic England has a list of all the barns in the country. Those that have been converted into wedding venues, he contacts through their websites.
Owners aware they are guardians of ancient structures
“Owners are nearly always happy for me to visit and I put a reciprocal link on my website,” said Ken. “Sometimes whilst driving around, I’ll spot a large chimney-less roof poking above the farm buildings. Then I’ll drive in and knock on the farmhouse door. I have visited about 300 private barns and have only been refused permission to view and photograph the barn about three times. Some have asked me not to feature their barn on my website but have still been happy to show me round. Most owners are very conscious that they are guardians of a structure that has been there for hundreds of years and are keen to preserve it. However, maintenance and repair are extremely expensive and many struggle to maintain their barn.”
It was a chance remark by Maggie that got Ken into making scaled models. “My wife is a Londoner, so we visit the capital quite frequently. It was whilst visiting the John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Field that I first became aware of architectural models as an art form and collectable. On another London visit we went to an exhibition at the Royal Society of Antiquaries. There we saw a beautiful cabinet of curiosities with a model of Stonehenge on the top. This was on loan from the museum in Devizes. So when we were in Dorset we paid it a visit. This is where Pitt-Rivers had his estate, and the museum was full of models of his excavations made by his estate carpenter. My wife jokingly said, “You could make models of your barns.” A remark which she has since come to regret!”
Ken gives talks on barns
Having gathered so much information about threshing barns, Ken started doing talks on the subject. “The models are useful as an aid in my talks. People enjoy looking at them before and after. I am a kinaesthetic learner myself and I know lots of people like to handle things as well as looking and listening.”
Woodwork has always been a favourite pastime. As a little boy his grandad would come to tea on a Friday afternoon bringing with him a bag of wood off-cuts from a local wood yard and a mixed bag of nails. “I would spend the weekend and evenings making things before the next supply arrived.” Ken added, “My father was a highly skilled metal polisher and spent a lot of his spare time making things from wood or Perspex.”
When it comes to making model barns Ken’s method is to look at how the barns were built and do the same on a smaller scale. He uses his own photographs or diagrams and plans when available. “I make the trusses up beforehand from balsa wood then assemble them bay by bay. I use any appropriate material for the walls such as cork, card, Styrofoam, clay etc.”
All the models are of established barns that he’s visited. He chose 100th scale as many of the barns are around 200ft in length. So a 1/24th scaled model would be 8ft long – far too large for his flat – and for transporting to talks and events.
Cribs and memento boxes
In addition to his 3D model barns, Ken also makes Christmas crib scenes. Some are up to 4ft in length which decorate the foyer to his flats and local churches etc. Other scenes are small enough to sit on your hand. Additionally, he makes memento boxes which are a brilliant idea. These are made for himself and Maggie, and for friends and family. Also for their holiday destinations, created to store all those special little trinkets, souvenirs, photos and memories which might normally just disappear. Amongst the many he has around their home are life boxes for himself and Maggie; one for her delightful miniature embroidery pieces, and many holiday destinations.
Discover more or contact Ken through his website: www.greatbarns.org.uk