Tithe Barn and Messums Gallery

Just outside the town of Tisbury is the unmissable Tithe Barn, Grange buildings and Gatehouse. Once part of the Abbess of Shaftesbury’s vast estate, this magnificent example of 13th century architecture is the longest barn in England at 200ft long. The estate also boasts several other listed structures that were built between the 1200s - 1400s to bolster the lucrative domain then known as the Manor Farm. The buildings had a multitude of purposes over the centuries, holding meetings, courts and worship as well as storing farm produce and occasionally acting as dwellings. The estate was granted to Sir Thomas Arundell in 1547, owner of Wardour Castle, and then divided and sold over the years until it became part of the wider Fonthill Estate. It is been owned by the Morrison family since the early 1800s. Now home to Messums Gallery and Arts Centre, a showcase of modern art and design. Messum’s was opened in 2016 after a two-year restoration and full re-thatch of the Tithe Barn and offers workshops, exhibitions, performances and a café. Read more about the rich history of restoration, hexafoil sigils (to keep witches out) and the lost henge, the stones from which were removed in 1792 to create the grotto at Wardour Castle.