About
Old maps show the location of an Old Castle in the location of the Tythe Barn on Merthyr Mawr Road. The building, thought to be one of Bridgend’s oldest surviving buildings, possibly incorporates part of the walls of the castle as suggested by the Glamorgan and Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT), although this has not been proven. The Tythe Barn, also known as St Marys Chapel Tithe Barn or Nolton Tithe Barn dates to the Post Medieval period (1485-1750) with later 18th century alterations. The building was constructed with rubble walls and red brick detailing on the steps and entrance sides on the southern end of the building and above the western door.
Tythe barns were used in the medieval times to store tithes (or tythes) and rents at a time when farmers were required to give one tenth of their produce to the church. For this reason they were often located close to a church or a rectory. The barns were used to store the tythed crops over winter. They tended to be large buildings as they were used to store crops gathered from most, if not all, of the surrounding farms; their size would also depend on the nature of the farming in the area (i.e. whether farming was predominantly arable, livestock or mixed).
The internal space would have been used both for the storage of the crop and also for the threshing (the process of separating grain from corn and other crops) and winnowing process (the use of wind to separate the grain from the chaft). The threshed straw would then be stored in the barn and be used for animal food and bedding. The Bridgend Tythe Barn has several doors. The door located at the southern end of the barn up a flight of stone steps suggests that the barn had a loft. Below this door are two windows located within a stoned-up entrance way, which could have been used as pitching holes through which the crop would have been forked into the barn. Barns would often contain ventilation slits to allow air through and thereby help to prevent stored produce from rotting. A small ventilation slit can be seen in the southern gable end of the Bridgend Tythe Barn. It is thought that the internal layout of the barn would have been similar in layout to other known barns with the threshing floor in the centre of the structure, and storage bays located close to the threshing floor. The barn has a small addition on its western side which may have been used to house tools or livestock. The building has recently been Grade II Listed.
