Swalcliffe Barn seeks new volunteers to help keep it open to the public

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The wonderful medieval barn at Swalcliffe needs your help. For nearly six hundred years the barn stored the produce of the Swalcliffe fields, sale of which supported New College, Oxford, founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham. But in 1987 agricultural use came to an end when it was purchased by a trust to be saved for the nation as a Historic Monument. Since then it has housed a fascinating museum run by the Oxfordshire Museums Service, containing part of their collection of Oxfordshire’s agricultural vehicles and a local history exhibition operated by The Swalcliffe Society. But now the Society and the barn need your help.

The Swalcliffe Society members form a dedicated team of volunteers that has enabled the barn be opened to the public each year since 1991. But that team is diminishing in numbers making it difficult to keep going. Swalcliffe resident Colin Hill, who manages the team of volunteers, explains:

“peoples’ lives change, people move away from the area, and the Covid pandemic had an effect, so our team has steadily diminished by almost half in recent times. We invite people who enjoy history or volunteering to boost our numbers so we can continue to keep the barn open. The commitment is not particularly onerous, with sufficient numbers each pair of volunteers would normally only have to do one duty a year, unless they are willing to do more. But this year we have had to shorten our opening season by two months due to reduced volunteer numbers, and some have done additional duties. Through volunteering we meet interesting barn visitors who marvel at this incredible building and its fascinating contents, we make new friends, make new connections, and gather more and more historical information. It can be very rewarding, and we celebrate our achievement at a social meeting every year.”

VOLUNTEERING OPEN DAY

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The main wagon doors of Swalcliffe's fine medieval barnThe main wagon doors of Swalcliffe's fine medieval barn
The main wagon doors of Swalcliffe's fine medieval barn

There will be a Volunteering Open Day at the barn on Saturday 12th October and we invite anyone who might be even remotely interested in volunteering, or the barn itself, to come to see the barn and its contents and talk to our other volunteers about the benefits of volunteering. The barn will be open from 10am to 4pm and light refreshments will be available all day.

Volunteers receive membership of the Swalcliffe Society (which is free to anyone) and become registered volunteers for the Oxfordshire Museums Service enabling them to volunteer at Swalcliffe Barn and for any of their other museums and activities.

If you cannot join us on the 12th October, you are welcome to contact the Society at any other time to talk about volunteering, visits to the barn, or history generally.

The Swalcliffe Society is a local history society founded over forty years ago with the aim of researching and recording local history. In addition to volunteering at Swalcliffe Barn our members are involved in historical research, archiving, publishing, giving talks, and in local archaeology. The village archive and our historical understanding continues to grow and we warmly welcome new members interested in any of these activities. No previous experience is necessary and anyone can join us.

You can contact the Society by email at [email protected] or by phone to 01295 788127 or text to 07968 324521.

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