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Plan of Barrow in the Parish of Dalton-
Like many other Low Furness villages, Barrow was founded as a grange or home farm by the Cistercian monks of Furness Abbey. First mentioned in monastic records in 1190, the grange of Barrai was situated close to the site occupied by William Fisher’s 19th century farm (see No 7 of Barrow Village plan).
Granges consisted of a normal range of farm buildings albeit on a larger scale. One or possibly more large barns were used for storage and there was often a dovecote. There would have been animal sheds and there may have been fishponds or a mill. Lay brothers from the monastery worked alongside locals on these granges. According to Mick Aston, writing in “Monasteries in the Landscape”, the monks’ land “was intermixed in common field systems with that of the villagers and the grange was an integral part of the village structure. The historical definition of a grange tends to reflect the former – a consolidated block of land from which all common rights have been excluded – while the archaeological viewpoint sees granges as groups of buildings from which an estate was worked, regardless of the style of landholding”.
For a map of Furness Abbey granges see the English Heritage Furness Abbey guide book 1998, and illuminated slides, displayed at Furness Abbey Museum.
Drawing of reconstructed grange
A reconstruction of the grange at Dean Court Farm, Oxfordshire, based on the evidence recovered from recent excavations by Tim Allen and the Oxford Archaeological Unit. The grange belonged to Abingdon Abbey and is reproduced on p130 “Monasteries and the Landscape” by Mick Aston. The illustration is by Harry Lange, amended by Daniel Ray, Oxford Archaeological Unit. The image is reproduced here by kind permission of Tim Allen and the Oxford Archaeological Unit and Harry Lange.
