The Farm
Barwick Farm was the home farm of Barwick Park estate for many centuries. The farm traditionally raised beef and sheep and produced dairy products and apples.
There has been a farm building on the site since the fourteenth century. The lower storey and the east wing are very old but it is difficult to put a date to them. In approximately 1810, the house was signficantly rebuilt. The main feature of this build was the western front of the buiding that is in Georgian style. The brick and mortar work are of excellent quality.
The farm was sold off from Barwick Park in 1950 and became a tenant farm with ownership resting with a land owning trust. The main part of the farming land was sold separately to the tenant farmer in 2000.
The farm house with 10 adjoining acres was bought by the current owners in 2003. They undertook a major renovation of the property using traditional building materials.
The land is used primarily for pasture for sheep and horses. The sheep are local Dorsets - one ram and seven ewes and their various offspring. Trees include ash, alder, beech, blackthorn, crack willow, hawthorn, hazel, scots pine - and there is a solitary oak. There is a stream running through the property that divides into two arms - one of which powered the mill on the eastern side of the property; it now provides the water for the fishery. |
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The Park
Barwick Park was given by William the Conqueror to one of his Norman knights. The property did not remain in the hands of any one family for a significant length of time. The two most signficiant families were the Newmans and the Messiters who owned the estate from 1750 to 1950.
The old house was pulled down and a building merging the Jacobean and Italianate styles was constructed in the 1850's. The house was converted into appartments in the early 1990's.
The parkland around the house now consists of some 15 acres. The dominant feature is the 4 follies: the Rose Tower, the Fish Tower, the Obelisk and Jack the Treacle Eater. Some controversy surrounds their construction and the dating. The view carrying most support is that they were built by the Newman family some time before 1790. You can work through the old parkland by using the public footpath.
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The Church
There has been a church on the curent site since the ninth century. Its history has been closely associated with the Barwick Park estate.
The most striking physical feature of the church are the remarkable pew ends. These were made in the sixteenth century and are therefore a strangely early example of parish pews. They reflect a folk emphasis on Christianity - fitting rather nicely with the agricultural nature of the local society and the local tradition of fairs.
The font is a stone sculpture of real beauty and probably hewn from local stone in the twelfth century.
In addition, there is a medieval wall painting in the south-east corner of the nave. Unfortunately this is badly damaged and the cost of restoration would be huge. A guide to its full past splendour can be gauged by the lovely wall paintings in the adjacent parish church of Sutton Bingham. |
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