Flitton, The Barn, Brook Lane c.1955

Photo ref: F107003

More about this scene

Typical of many older cottages in central Bedfordshire, the mixture of timber cladding, wattle and daub, tile and thatch gives The Barn a picture postcard look to be envied. Its location at the entrance to Brook Lane is a mixed blessing. Church and pub are conveniently close to hand - literally just around the corner - but Brook Lane is also walking access to the Flitton Moor nature conservation priority area. Formerly part of a large, open and periodically flooded area, shared for centuries as common land by Flitton and Maulden parishes, Flitton Moor was used as common rough grazing for sheep, cattle and geese throughout the medieval period and until the 19th century. It was largely undrained and undivided until then, when parliamentary enclosure in Maulden parish resulted in a straight drain being dug across the moor. The land to the north-west went into Maulden parish and the rest went to Flitton parish. The course of the River Flit here was straightened at the beginning of the 19th century and now marks the south-eastern boundary of the site.