Listed Building: STRADBROKE TOWN FARM (282110)

TM 48 SW WESTHALL 3/36 Stradbroke Town Farm - II Farmhouse. Part C15, of 1½ storeys; part early C17, of 2 storeys and attics. Timber-framed and rendered; thatched roof with decorated ridge. An internal chimney-stack with a short plain red brick shaft, set within the higher C17 section of the house. 2 C20 3-light small-paned casement windows to the ground floor; 2 eyebrow dormers and one old plain 3-light window to the upper floor. End entry on the north-west, with a C20 enclosed gabled porch, and beyond it, a single-storey C19 brick lean-to with hipped roof and clay pantiles. Framing exposed inside: 4 bays. The 2 bays to the north west originally formed the open hall of a medieval house with crown-post roof, and the present entry is in the position of one of the cross-entry doorways. The present ceiling to the ground floor was inserted in the late C16: one of the main cross-beams is reused from an earlier part of the house and has housings for studs and a diamond-mullioned window: the joists have an unusually large chamfer and curved stops with bar. On the upper floor, tension braces to the end wall. The tie-beam of the open truss has been cut through but the arched braces remain; the crown-post has a double roll-moulding at the base and a similar triple moulding at the cap, which is immediately below the present upper ceiling level, so that the braces and the remainder of the roof- structure are concealed. The C17 addition has good studding, and reversed braces at the corners. Chamfer and run-off stops to the exposed ground floor and upper ceilings, the latter original. Side purlin roof, mainly covered. The chimney-stack has 2 back-to-back hearths on the ground floor with plain timber lintels, and another lintel for an upper fireplace on the south east side. The newel stair beside the stack winds right up to the attic and retains its original treads. Listing NGR: TM4170380261