REPAIRS have been carried out to a historic barn at a Bromsgrove open air museum.

The Severn Waste Environmental Fund (SWEF) awarded a grant of £8,500 to Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, in Redditch Road, Stoke Heath.

The grant is funding vital repairs to the thatch and walls of the museum's 16th century threshing barn, which originally stood at Cholstrey Court Farm near Leominster, Herefordshire.

The barn is architecturally important as an example of a cruck barn, built around specially cut, curved timbers.

The style of its building reached its highly developed form in the West Midlands and Welsh Marches, and was widespread from the 12th to the 16th centuries.

Keith Payne, master thatcher, undertook patch repairs to the thatched roof of the barn using wheat straw, to replicate the straw from traditional cereal crops that would have been used in the original thatching of the barn.

Bromsgrove craftsman, Phil Babb, also completed repairs to the walls of the barn. The repairs are made of laths, thin strips of wood woven between upright beams to create a lattice effect. He also used silver oak and while the repairs stand out against the existing fabric of the barn, just after the work has been done, the patches will age and blend in to match the existing lattice work. This is exactly what would happen in the past.

Museum director, Simon Carter, said: “We are very grateful to Severn Waste Environmental Fund for supporting this work, it wouldn’t have been possible without them.

"We are reflecting the historically authentic approach of mending specific areas wherever this was feasible and safeguarding this beautiful historic building for the future.”

Bill Richardson, SWEF fund manager said: “We were delighted to be able to assist with the restoration of this historically important building at Avoncroft and are sure that the public will enjoy visiting it."