
One of London's medieval treasures gets a new roof.
Upminster, to the far east of Greater London, is famous for precisely three things: its majestic windmill, its eyebrow-raising Tube decoration, and its Museum of Nostalgia.
The latter is not only of interest for its collections, but also for its location. This is the Upminster Tithe Barn, a building that was already getting on a bit when Shakespeare was born.
The barn reckons to be London's oldest thatched building. It was constructed around 1450 as part of the Augustinian Waltham Abbey estate. Its original purpose was to store tithes — farm produce paid to the abbey as a form of taxation. It continued as a regular barn after the dissolution of the monasteries, and has survived down the ages in remarkably good nick.

In recent years, however, the building's roof has degraded, prompting Historic England to place it on the Heritage at Risk register in 2023. Now, thanks to grants from National Highways and Historic England, the roof is being restored.
It's quite a job. Among the structure's many superlatives, it supports one of the biggest thatched roofs in Britain. Four master thatchers and two apprentices will take a whole year to replace some 30 tonnes of straw. Once complete, the barn's new barnet should last 60 years or more.

This is all good news. The barn is a 'scheduled ancient monument', the highest level of heritage protection a building can possess. All being well, work should be completed this year ready for the barn to welcome people back soon after.