The Hay Barrack: Form and Function of a Relict Landscape Feature

Hay barracks are common, although steadily disappearing, features of northwestern Europe. In North America, only widely scattered survivals of the structure can be identified. This study analyzes the various evolutionary forms of hay barracks in northwestern Europe and relates those forms to environmental conditions and changing levels of technology. The provinces of Zuid Holland and Utrecht appear to have been the place of origin of the hay barrack. From here the structure diffused over the rest of the Netherlands, Flanders and the western parts of the North German Plain.