Gibraltar Farm Barn is a Grade II listed building in the Central Bedfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 November 2003. Barn.
Gibraltar Farm Barn
- WRENN ID
- patient-hall-thistle
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Central Bedfordshire
- Constituency
- North Bedfordshire MP: Richard Fuller (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 20 November 2003
- Type
- Barn
- Address
- Gibraltar Farm Barn, Tempsford
- OS grid reference
- TL 192 525
- Coordinates
- 52.15853, -0.25829
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Gibraltar Farm Barn is a barn built in the early 19th century, later adapted to store flight equipment for Special Operations Executive agents, and now serves as a memorial. The barn features a concrete plinth, weather-boarded and brick-lined walls, and an old tile roof with a pitched design. It has five bays and a central threshing entrance, with the entrance to the west blocked and fitted with Crittall windows, which are also present in the gable ends.
Inside, there are concrete racks with brick partitions around the perimeter that were used to store flight equipment. On the west wall, there is a memorial that reads: "Tempsford Airfield Gibraltar Farm I Erected to commemorate the brave deeds of the men and women of every nationality who flew from this wartime airfield to the forces of the resistance in France, Norway, Holland, and other countries during the years 1942 to 1945 I The equipment for their dangerous missions was issued to them from this barn." The roof structure consists of four trusses with tie beams, slightly curved braces to the walls, and raking struts clasped to single rows of purlins with collars, with rafters joined by a ridge piece.
The barn is listed for its historic interest and as a memorial to the Special Operations Executive agents who were equipped from this barn before flying from the adjacent runway to missions in occupied Europe.
Local climate
Gibraltar Farm Barn sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 91% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 53% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.4°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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