Historic 17th century thatched barn destroyed in fire

A large blaze has destroyed a historic 17th century thatched barn in Denchworth, South Oxfordshire.

Local residents described the blaze that broke out at around 3am on 11th March as “horrific”.

70 firefighters attended the fierce blaze trying desperately to prevent the flames from spreading to neighbouring homes. Many trees were cut down to stop the fire spreading further.

The flames were so severe that at one point firefighters were unable to walk past the buildings due to the intense.

The barn was part of the Denchworth Manor which is a Grade II listed building. It was recently sold by Savills UK for around £4.75m.

Eye witness, Rosemary Jones said: “It was horrific when we looked out the window and saw the flames going up, especially as we live in a thatched building.”

Mike Jones, added: “We were concerned about it spreading until we spoke to the fire chief and they said it was under control. But if the wind had been up and coming from that direction everyone would have had a problem.”

Another local resident from Denchworth said: “It was one hell of a blaze. I was standing 200 yards away and I could feel the heat. From what I could see the firefighters could not put it out, but they contained it from getting to the manor house or any other buildings. They did a great job. But they were beautiful, elegant thatched barns with a lot of history and significance to this village. It is a disaster to this area.”

During the fire, electricity pylons were damaged, cutting power to the community for over an hour.

David Heycock, Fire service group manager said: “The spread of the fire was so quick we were unable to prevent the loss of the building.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out.