Stapleford History Society, 14 July 2026
A talk by David Martin
David Martin, the Chairman of Little Shelford Historical Society and Trustee of The Granary, gave this talk in the classroom of the restored farm building, supported by photographs by Trevor Barlow who has been crucially involved from the start of the project together with Paul Brooke Barnes. The neglected farm buildings of 25 years ago have been transformed into the wonderful and beautiful facilities we now enjoy with special help from local architects, Colin and Toni Moses.
Though the search for the site of Stapleford Manor has never been successful, The Granary was once known as Manor Farm. We know that a large fire, some time around 1870, destroyed virtually everything and Manor Farm was rebuilt as a state-of-the-art Victorian farm with a grain processing complex that was fully functioning until the 1950s.
In 1936 the farm freehold was owned by Corpus Christi College. They changed the name from Manor Farm to Bury Farm in order to avoid confusion in their accounts with another Manor Farm that they already owned. In 2009 Corpus Christi agreed to sell the farm as they needed to fund new student accommodation. The farm was bought by the Charity established by Philip Brook Barnes in 1958.
Philip Brook Barnes was a missionary who believed in life-long learning and the value and benefits of travel. He had personally visited China, Ethiopia, Libya, India, Denmark, and the Amazon. He founded what we now know as ACE, the Association of Cultural Exchange, which arranges a wide range of cultural holidays from its offices in The Granary. His son Paul took over from his father in 2009 and, with Trevor Barlow, masterminded the conversion of the disused farm into its current glory as a dynamic regional Arts Centre, employing 50 people and with an annual footfall of about 70,000.
The Granary is sited in the Green Belt and on a flood plain. A small tributary of the Granta, a chalk stream, runs alongside the orchard and the long term aim is to establish a wetland fen. The orchard itself was created in the 1930s to supply apples to the Corpus Christi kitchen. Blue Barrel Cider is now being made with Stapleford apples. It is clear that the future is looking bright for The Granary!
Report by Jane Steadman