The history of the Knole Barn

In 1887, the Barn was damaged by an intense fire. Newspaper reports described the medieval roof burning fiercely for five days and 250 tonnes of hay being destroyed. Fire crews with horse-drawn steam pumps attracted many spectators as they battled the blaze. 

Victorian repairs resulted in a flat, crenelated roof considered fashionable at the time. By 1946, when Knole was gifted to the National Trust, the Barn was used mostly to house vehicles as a garage.  

We jump to 2013, when a £20 million Heritage Lottery-funded project was approved to preserve Knole’s Grade I-listed buildings and collection and open new spaces for visitors.  

The Barn was central to this vision: a fully accessible 21st-century conservation studio in a 600-year-old building. The flat roof was replaced with a new gabled structure echoing the medieval pitch.  

Architects Rodney Melville and Partners worked with stonemasons to source Kentish ragstone and specialist tilers to create a blend of 65,000 bespoke clay peg tiles to match the surrounding roofscape.

When the studio officially opened in March 2017, its flexible open-plan work area and soaring ceiling were much admired.  

Interactive exhibits continue to help convey conservation principles and practices, while an environmentally controlled store showcases objects awaiting conservation or delivery to clients. The studio has proved a major attraction for heritage-loving visitors to this day. 

In early 2021 the National Trust received a generous donation of £3m from The Royal Oak Foundation, based in the US. This gift, made in honour of the National Trust's 125th anniversary, will support collections conservation for the next five years and will fund major work mainly based at our specialist studio here at Knole.

With the help of this donation the studio has already been able to support the conservation treatment of over 200 objects from properties across the UK. 

The Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio features prominently throughout the BBC's Hidden Treasures of the National Trust series. The show goes behind the scenes to hear from the experts who look after treasured objects, including many that have recently been conserved here at the studio. The third season of the series aired in 2025.

The Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio begins a new chapter by incorporating Conservation Science into its work. This includes the development of the National Trust Paint Sample Archive and a dedicated Microscopy Centre, funded by the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). These facilities will support advanced research and conservation practices, with the official opening planned for 2026.