Site Event/Activity record ESF20912 - The Limes, Wattisfield

The 'barn' at The Limes is a timber-framed and rendered outbuilding of the late-15th or 16th century which lies in close proximity to the service gable of an ostensibly contemporary domestic house and almost certainly represents a rare and historically important detached kitchen. The house is parallel with the main street in the centre of the medieval settlement, just 25 m south of St Margaret's church, but the outbuilding is aligned at right-angles. Its original structure contained three unequal bays and extended to 10.5 m in length by 5 m in overall width (34.5 ft by 16.25 ft), and its external walls rose to 3.5 m at the roof-plates (11.5 ft). Precise analysis is hampered by the concealment of key evidence behind 20th century render, but the building appears to have contained a two-bay open hall to the rear (east) with a cross-passage adjoining an undivided service bay to the west. The loft of the service bay extended over the central bay to create a 'boot-shaped' hall heated by an open hearth - as indicated by heavy sooting to the timbers of the eastern bay. Any evidence of the hall window is hidden, but it did not rise to the roof-plates in the usual manner. Project status: Complete Yes, Validated Yes Previous/Future Work: Previous Not known, Future Not known Associated Identifiers: Sitecode WSF 058 NMR No. 1536563 Project Type: Building Recording Methods and Techniques: Photographic Survey, Survey/Recording Of Fabric/Structure 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 200.00 Square metres Grid Reference: TM010741 Point Height 30.00 - 31.00 metres 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: Survey Media: Images raster / digital photography, Survey PAPER ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County SMR Contents: other Media: Correspondence, Map, Photograph, Plan, Report BIBLIOGRAPHY Publication Type: Grey literature (unpublished document/manuscript) Title: The Limes, Wattisfield, Suffolk WSF 058 Historic Building Record Author(s)/Editor(s): Alston, L. Other Bibliographic Details: SCCAS Report Date: 2009 Issuer/Publisher: SCCAS Place of Issue or Publication: Bury St Edmunds Description: A4, comb bound, white cover with colour photo (also available as PDF)