"It is one of the most beautiful monuments in the town of Bourges, the tithe barn (some people call it the Grange des Dîmes) is located opposite the north portal of Saint Etienne Cathedral.
Its construction dates back to the 13th century during the reign of Saint Louis (1226 - 1270), it was designed to receive royalties in kind collected by the Chapter of the Cathedral. It will have this type of use until the Revolution.
On two floors, it received the product of ecclesiastical tithes but also the "rents" of agricultural properties which were then important in Champagne and Sancerre.
The upper floors received the cereals, it was an attic, and the half-buried ground floor received the wine, it was a cellar. It should be noted in this cellar magnificent ribbed vaults.
In 1791, this residence was awarded as "national property" to individuals, we do not really know what became of it, except that around 1850, it was rented to the Bourges Town Hall which made it a "passage barracks" for horsemen and other infantrymen. It was then called the Barracks Dulac after the name of the owner.
The building will return to the Church thanks to a donation from the Count of Guère, M Pantin in 1867. It then became an annex to the Cathedral for meetings and catechism.
But in 1992, it ceased this type of activity, because, for security reasons, the Town Hall prohibited the occupation of the building... which, moreover, had belonged to it since 1911. (the city having been named by the laws of separation of Churches and the State, the beneficiary, that is to say the owner, the assignee, therefore the user remaining the Church).
The restoration was carried out in 2005 and an agreement was signed between the mayor of Bourges, Serge Lepeltier and Mg Barbier in 2005 to close the legal aspect.
The Grange aux Dîmes can be used by the clergy on the 1st floor, completely rehabilitated by the City, with contingencies and offices, while the ground floor is still prohibited. "