The stone barn, especially the long tithe barn, is one of the iconic features of the Cotswold landscape. This book is a systematic look at the design, construction and changing use of the Cotswold barn and its place in the rural economy and landscape.

Text and illustrations trace the barn's development from the earliest surviving medieval estate and tithe barns, through the growth of the wool trade, the dissolution of the monasteries, the decline in church holdings and the agricultural revolution, down to an era where increasing mechanisation changed the life of farming communities, eventually bringing economic depression and leaving the majority of the stone barns redundant in today's landscape.

The book concludes with a look at the recent revival of barns through their conversion for housing, business, educational and cultural purposes, and with a glossary of the major surviving barns.