Pilgrim's progress - Kimberley's old Tithe Barn and how it funded pilgrims passing through the village
A big thanks to Carolynn Hobbs for this one. Her grandad John Hobbs was headmaster at the old British School on Newdigate Lane (now the site of Kimberley's parish hall, soon to be "The Hub" in 2026). Around the 1920's he did a series of hand-written framed posters about Kimberley's history for his school children to learn from. Recently re-discovered, they offer today's generation a fascinating lost look into the village's past life. This one is all about the old Kimberley Tithe Barn. You can read what it says below but before that, what is a "tithe"?
What is a "tithe"?
A "tithe" is a payment, usually to support the local church, of one tenth of one's produce or earnings. They are a very old and traditional way to support a religious establishment. They originate in the Old Testament Book of Genesis when Jacob (having just seen a vision of his famous ladder) vows to give one tenth of the fruits of his devotion and labour back to God.
Tithe barns were used to store the local farm produce set aside for the church funds. The Tithe Act of 1836 replaced this ancient system of payment in kind with monetary payments so tithe barns gradually lost importance. Kimberley's tithe barn was demolished in 1936.
Watnall Hall also had its own amazing medieval tithe barn which looked very church-like. It was demolished around 1962. The importance of the tithe system can be appreciated as Watnall Hall's old library contained a leather-bound book from 1618 called "The History of Tithes". More details on that at the foot of the article.
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| Back view shows the full height of Kimberley's tithe barn as it drops away into the old quarry (now a car park) |
John Hobb's school poster
In beautiful handwritten script, it describes the Kimberley tithe barn, its location and what it was used for...
"The Tithe Barn many years ago converted into four houses stands in Brewery St. It is substantially built of stone obtained from local quarries. Its age is not known, but 120 years ago we have record of it being used for threshing of com. The old doorway can still be seen with projecting hook on which swung the heavy barn door; at the rear may be seen the bricked up doorway through which admission was gained to the quarry. The oblong ventilation holes are others and would allow the air to circulate freely and thus prevent the com from getting overheated. Threshing was done by means of flails, and the chaff would collect in such quantities as to almost entirely obstruct the passage to the lower storey. Under the Barn were houses the backs of which were built into the rock. The bottom stores are now blocked up as no longer being fit for habitation."
Pilgrim's progress
"The tithe of this time was collected by placing a thorn or stick from the hedge in every tenth shock of wheat. These were then taken to the Barn and threshed. The wheat was then sold and the proceeds went to the Church. We have no record of how the early rector of Kimberley collected his tithes, which were compulsory and included corn, wool, geese, ducks, lambs, colts, eggs, rabbits, honey, wax etc. Often they brought in a considerable sum of money; on the other hand there were many claims on his purse - there was repair of the chancel, the upkeep of the choir books, relief of the poor, and pilgrims passing through Kimberley on their way from Nottingham to the north called on him for help. Kimberley could not have been a rich living as out of the fifteen clergy mentioned between the years 1298 and 1424 only two died here and one of them, John de London, probably died of the Black Death which was at its height in 1348.
The old part of Awsworth Church was a Tithe Barn in 1665 and was under the Nuthall Deanery."
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| The front of the old Tithe Barn on Brewery Street. The converted cottages were known as the Toadholes. |
The Toadhole cottages
A former Kimberley resident recollects the Toadholes (the row of cottages that the top floor of the tithe barn was converted to) and the shops and residents of Brewery Street now sadly consigned to a bygone age...
"My grandma lived there. She was born 1908. Those old houses used to be call The Toadholes. I think My dad lived there when he was born, 1925 but I don’t know for how long. Check them out in Arthur Plumb’s book.I left Kimberley Nov 1974 so I had no recollection of a car park for the Nelson, although I knew the pub very well. If you walked up Brewery Street towards Edgewood Road,there was an off-licence on the LHS (at one stage ran by the Thornhill family) Browns Flats came next then Criches Flats. At that point looking right there’s a banking and down there, on the leftish there were the buildings in question. From memory there was a road running alongside the Nelson which I think, but could be wrong, was a row of old cottages on the leftish (a row of 4?) Nelson on right. Further up Brewery St on LHS, Eddie (Preston’s mother) Dickman had a grocery shop and on the corner of Edgewood Road The Isaacson family had a little sweet shop. On the RHS in a bungalow lived Frank & Dolly Wood and he was the chimney sweep. Enough history for day lol"
and Harry Burton, former landlord of the Nelson, says... "The tithe barn was in the corner of the quarry now occupied by the house named “toad- holes” behind the Nelson and Railway inn. The cottages were opposite no 17 brewery st. They are pictured in Mr Plumbs book of old Kimberley referred to by Susan Bush in the comments. The book is available in Kimberley library and is in a series of great interest to the town’s history"
Arthur Plumb's much-loved postcard books of Kimberley (Vol 1.) has these pics and a write up...
3 - The tithe barn stood by Brewery Street being built of local stone from the site upon which it stood. Records show that is was used for threshing corn in the 1800's. The top part was later converted into houses. This photo shows the tithe barn from the 'Toad Hole' side. Is was demolished in 1936. (Circa 1920.)
4 - Brewery Street. This photo (below)shows the houses over the tithe barn in the previous photo. The occupants were Hardys, Olivers, Mottrams, and Peatmans. Notice the tall chimney of he boiler house for Hanson's Brewery.
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| The Toadholes cottages on Brewery Street from Arthur Plumb's postcard book |
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| Rear view from the old quarry (now a car park) towards Brewery Street. The tithe barn would have stood where the beige cottage now is. It is also called Toadholes. |
It's library, when auctioned off in 1954, had a 1st edition copy of Seldon's Historie of the Tithes from 1618...
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| "Genesis" of the tithe system was the Old Testament and Jacob's vow to give God a tenth of his "stuff" from Watnall Hall's 1618 1st edition of Seldon's "Historie of the Tithes" |
John Hobbs also appears in another Watnall article about a potential Roman road in the village... https://watnallhall.blogspot.com/2024/03/does-watnall-have-hidden-roman-road.html
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