Site Event/Activity record ESF20887 - Barn at Dairy Farm, Brightwell

Dairy Farm Barn lies at the former site of Brightwell Hall, which was demolished in the mid-18th century. By 1806 both the Hall and Dairy Farms belonged to Sir John Kenward Shaw of Eltham Lodge in Kent. An 1806 sketch plan shows Dairy Farm as a tenanted holding of 143 acres, and outlines a barn on approximately the same site as the existing structure. The barn is a timber-framed and weatherboarded threshing barn of five bays with a central entrance in its southern elevation facing the former farmhouse. It contains an intact and impressive roof of staggered butt-purlins and combines both arch-braces and knee-braces in the typical manner of the early-19th century. The framing is of high quality, reflecting its construction for a gentry estate, and the building represents a good 'Napoleonic' barn which illustrates Suffolk's agricultural boom in the wake of wartime import restrictions and high cereal prices: It is accordingly of both historic and structural interest. The barn's traditional appearance and conspicuous location in the landscape, overlooking a valley to the north, provides additional local significance. Despite its relatively early origin, however, the building has probably been too heavily altered to meet the strict English Heritage criteria for listing, although the case is marginal: the loss of its original thatch and porch is relevant in this respect, together with the insertion of several additional doors into its wall fabric. The rest of the farm complex is 20th century, and is not in itself of special historic interest. Project status: Complete Yes, Validated Yes Previous/Future Work: Previous No, Future No Associated Identifiers: Sitecode BGL 047 HER event no. BGL 047 Planning Application No. C/10/0464 NMR No. 1536134 Project Type: Building Recording Methods and Techniques: Photographic Survey Reason for Investigation: Direction from Local Planning Authority - PPG16 Site status: None Current Land use: Other 2 - In use as a building Monument Type(s)/Period(s): BUILDING Post Medieval Artefact Type(s)/Period(s): NONE None PROJECT LOCATION Area 50.00 Square metres Grid Reference: TM251431 Point PROJECT CREATOR(S) Brief originator: Local Authority Archaeologist and/or Planning Authority/advisory body Design originator: Edward Martin Director/Manager: David Gill Supervisor: Leigh Alston DIGITAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR Contents: other Media: Images raster / digital photography, Survey, Text PAPER ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR Contents: other Media: Report, Survey BIBLIOGRAPHY Publication Type: Grey literature (unpublished document/manuscript) Title: Dairy Farm Barn, Brightwell, Suffolk BGL 047 : Historic Building Record Author(s)/Editor(s): Alston, L. Other Bibliographic Details: SCCAS Report Date: 2010 Issuer/Publisher: SCCAS Place of Issue or Publication: Shire Hall, Bury St Edmunds Description: A4, comb bound, white cover with colour photo (also available as PDF)