Inside the Great Barn ("The Bloody Barn") in the grounds of Basing House, Old Basing, Hampshire, UK.

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"The Great Barn at Basing Grange was built in 1535, shortly before a visit by Henry VIII. It was mainly used for storing hundreds of sheaves of corn and barley harvested from the Paulet's vast estate. It is one of the largest examples of its kind in England and is the only Tudor building at Basing House to have survived intact to the present day. This is all the more remarkable since it was the at the centre of a famous attack by the Parliamentary army in 1643, an event which gave the barn its local nickname of "The Bloody Barn"." "The earliest visible features at Basing House today are the huge circular bank (or ringwork) and defensive ditches of a castle built in the 1100s by the de Port family, who arrived with William the Conqueror in the Norman invasion of 1066. It was on top of these castle remains that Sir William Paulet, the first Marquess of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England, chose to build his new house in 1535. When first built it was the largest private house in the country with around 360 rooms, and in its heyday was frequently visited by the monarchs of the day including Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Philip II of Spain and Queen Mary I who honeymooned there in 1554 after their marriage in nearby Winchester"

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Size: 2415px × 3624px
Location: Basing Grange, The Street, Old Basing, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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