Court Barn, museum in Cotswold

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What is recorded here

Court Barn in Chipping Campden is a seventeenth-century farm building restored as a museum of craft and design associated with the north Cotswolds.

Why it was built

The barn was built for agricultural storage and work within the town. Its robust stone shell later offered a fitting home for objects made by local craftspeople.

People and work

Designers including C. R. Ashbee, F. L. Griggs, Gordon Russell and Robert Welch worked in or near Chipping Campden. Trustees and donors assembled examples and records.

How it changed

After agricultural use ended, careful conversion created galleries without hiding the barn's structure. Exhibitions now connect furniture, metalwork, drawing and industrial design to makers.

What survives

Stone walls, roof timbers and broad internal volume survive with furniture, silver, drawings, tools and archives from the Arts and Crafts movement and later designers.

Why it mattered

It shows that modern design in the Cotswolds grew from both hand craft and industry, while reusing a working rural building rather than placing the story in a neutral gallery.