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# 📍Loci: The Surviving Monastic Barn at Grimwith Reservoir, Yorkshire Dales.
- URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/loci-the-monastic-barn-at-grimwith-reservoir-yorkshire-dales-2/
- Published: 2024-03-27T13:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-18T20:50:00.000Z
- Description: Refined Reflections: The Best of Genius Loci
- Author: Andy  Marshall
- Tags: loci, place making, coventry, coventry cathedral, monastic barn, barn, grimwith reservoir, yorkshire dales, architecture

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/014/833/326/original/img_0802.jpg)

**I'll never forget the first time I saw the barn at Grimwith - set against a blue-cast sky with the lake stretching out beyond it. It looked timeless.** 

The roof is of heather thatch - locally known as lin. These roofs are memory banks for words like that. Without this roof, places like this would decay and their words with them. They are taproots to the diversity of our heritage, words shaped by Viking mouths. Words that hold within their syntax hooks that keep us rooted. The roof holds all that.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2024/07/IMG_0806.jpeg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2024/07/IMG_0805.jpeg)

I notice the ridge finial detail - it curves downwards and cups the gable - it reminds me of Sir Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral. The covered entrance at Coventry echoes the protective curve of the barn finial. It has rooted within its geometry a caring curve of protection - like a hand shading the eyes of a newborn. 

At Coventry the roof’s strength is not in its waterproof capabilities, but in a powerful sense of healing - bridging the break between the bombed out old cathedral and the hope encompassed in the new. The best new architecture is rooted in the old.

I’m reminded of some words by Alain de Botton: “*So refined is our skill at detecting parallels to human beings in forms, textures and colours that we can interpret a character from the humblest shape. A line is eloquent enough. A straight example will signal someone stable and dull, a wavy one will appear foppish and calm, a jagged one angry and confused.*” 

Architecture of Happiness

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/014/866/803/original/img_0809.jpg)

Char hides from a rain shower.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/014/866/896/original/coventry_2-86.jpg)

"The covered entrance at Coventry echoes the protective curve of the barn finial."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/014/866/907/original/coventry-129.jpg)

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Readers of the Genius Loci Digest

## What stays with readers

> “ 
> 
> That aura, those echoes - the muted light is transporting. What a space to feel rooted in history. I'd love to make that journey myself; you've stirred the opera lover and architectural dreamer in me.
> 
> @sonatasips via X

> “ 
> 
> Genius Loci has rapidly become the highlight of my Friday morning mailboxes, Andy!
> 
> David via Linkedin

> “ 
> 
> In reading & seeing Andy's work I always struggle to know which is more impactful - his writing or photos. In truth, the two combined are greater than their parts, he allows you to explore the importance of place and time from the comfort of home.
> 
> Peter from Bluesky

> “ 
> 
> Andy your work is becoming wonderful, remarkable. A so-called breakdown has been milled into its constituent parts, becoming profound construction: through perception, architecture, the lens and the pen.
> 
> Stephen via Email

1 2 3 4 

← Ⅱ → 

![The vaulted nave of York Minster glowing with filtered light](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2025/07/GjFbo3aXoAAgtYU.jpeg) 

York Minster - light through the nave01 / 04

![Ancient carved stones and timber roof at Durham Cathedral's Open Treasure](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/rt4ccpqm0nalr9e9vv5oxo8invcfxar6wbvq/original.jpg) 

Durham Cathedral - Open Treasure02 / 04

![A family approaching the restored cloister at Exeter Cathedral](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2025/06/Clews-Exeter-April-2025-134.jpg) 

Exeter Cathedral - new life beside the old03 / 04

![The Iron Bridge reflected in calm water at dusk](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/aii66p605mkuajmgvjdqnt9325o42kjghcac/original.jpg) 

The Iron Bridge - reflected at dusk04 / 04

From the heritage portfolio

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