Miniatura

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.

Ken got into making scaled models, after visiting John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Field where he became aware of architectural models as an art form and collectable. This interest was fuelled after visiting another exhibition at the Royal Society of Antiquaries where he saw a beautiful cabinet of curiosities with a model of Stonehenge on the top. By chance, his wife, Maggie, suggested that he could make models of his barns.” A remark which she has since come to regret!” Ken cheerfully said.

He finds the English Heritage website and Historic England website useful sources of information as some of the barns are owned by the National Trust, some are administered by Historic England and some are privately owned. Over the years he has visited around 400 barns, learning of their history and social context. All his findings along with photographs and illustrations are logged on his website.

Read more in Ann Evans’ article about Ken here – https://miniatura.co.uk/barn-beautiful/