In 1958 the new owner of Grange Farm decided that he had no use for the barn or any inclination to care for it. As time went on the structure of the building was abused and began to deteriorate. By 1966 it was in a sorry state despite the fact that it’s status had been raised from Grade II to Grade II* – but not the Grade I it warranted.

At this time most experts had assumed that the oldest barns, including the Grange Barn, dated from the 1500’s.  Pevsner in his Essex survey had himself dated the Grange Barn to ‘about 1500’. This prevailing orthodoxy was about to be overturned – and as it happened the country’s leading expert in the developing field of historic carpentry happened to live in Coggeshall. Cecil Hewitt made a detailed examination of the barn’s structure and his report in November 1971 gave the earliest parts of the barn an astonishing twelfth century date. So-called experts ridiculed Cecil’s work, however analysis by carbon dating confirmed it. Until this pioneering work no one had any idea of just how ancient some of Britains barn’s were.

Meanwhile, while the building deteriorated, inaction, incompetence and indecision on the part of the authorities made the final destruction of the building appear inevitable.

The inspector found in the barn’s favour but euphoria was short lived as the owner still refused to co-operate in any way and Braintree District Council, concerned that they may find themselves with a financial burden, decided to take no further action.

At this time the barn suffered further collapses and its condition was deteriorating rapidly. In September 1975 two of the western bays collapsed and in 1977 the eastern end suffered the same fate. At this stage the estimated cost of renovation had risen from £25,000 to £65,000. The members of the Grange Barn Fund had almost capitulated in agreeing to dismantle and store the barn but in a last ditch effort again appealed to the Secretary of State to break the impasse. In reply, finance was offered to take down and re-erect the barn and the Fund members came very close to accepting this – but were not yet quite convinced, even at this late stage, that this was a proper course.

A meeting was then arranged with the Historic Buildings Council and this time all the parties interested in saving the barn attended – County and District Councils, Historic Monuments, Barn Fund, Historic Buildings Council, Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and Save Britain’s Heritage. The upshot was a decision that the barn ought to be saved in situ and £60,000 of the then estimated cost of £120,000 was offered by the Historic Building Council. The SPAB also agreed to offer the District Council £2,000 toward the legal costs of applying for a Compulsory Purchase order for the barn. The National Heritage Memorial fund then agreed to compensate the owner for the compulsory purchase (!!!).

In October 1980 Braintree District Council served a repair notice on the owner – to no effect of course and this led to the Compulsory Purchase Order being served in March 1981. The Grange Barn Fund managed to get planning permission for a change in use – so that in time any income might help in the upkeep of the building. The Fund also begged for guarantors to a total of £10,000 – these were essential for the organisation to demonstrate that it ‘had some substance’. This target was achieved with individuals promising amounts from £100 to £500 (Fortunately we were never called on to produce the cash!). The Fund was at this point reformed as the ‘Coggeshall Grange Barn Trust Limited’.

Both the barn’s owner and the owner of the adjacent roadway and estate decided to oppose the Compulsory Purchase Order and this led to a second Public Inquiry in September 1981. Huge jubilation greeted the result in March 1982 when the compulsory purchase was upheld.

Restoration work could not begin until the spring of 1983 but the condition of the barn was so poor that it was thought that another winter might finish it off – so hard-gained funds had to be spent making temporary repairs so that some of the building might be standing when restoration started.

Work finally started in May 1983 at which time the cost was an estimated £252,000 and with only £180,000 promised fund raising continued apace.

Within two years the heap of timbers that made the barn was reassembled with as much of the original structure as possible retained. The 80,000 peg tiles used on the roof came from a housing estate built by the old London County Council.