Farmstead record SFF 018 - Farmstead: Hill Farm (Gull Farm)

Gull Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular L-plan with the farmhouse detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. This farmstead survives intact with conversion for residential use.

The farm originally lay 200m to the N-W, as shown on the 1842 tithe map, but was entirely relocated in the mid 19th C. the original site is now lost without obvious trace in a ploughed field. The stone above the present farmhouse bears the date 1839.

The property was known as Gull Farm until the early 20th C and is marked as such on the OS map of 1904, but as Hill Farm in 1928.

The redundant farm buildings form a complex 17m to the W of the farmhouse. A brick-built single storied building adjoins the Eastern gable of a timber framed barn of 5 bays, both of which structures follow an east-west alignment and are consistent with the 19th C date suggested in the documentary evidence. The shed extends 6m by 10m and was probably designed as a cow shed. An open sided cart lodge to the N is of the same date.

The western range has been demolished.

The roof of the southern gable of the eastern range remains, though the walls were entirely rebuilt in brick in the 20th C. it was also extended and remodelled at this time to create a pair of loose boxes.

Further remodelling was undertaken in the 20th C with the increase of dairy farming.

Recorded as part of the Farmsteads in the Suffolk Countryside Project. This is a purely desk-based study and no site visits were undertaken. These records are not intended to be a definitive assessment of these buildings. Dating reflects their presence at a point in time on historic maps and there is potential for earlier origins to buildings and farmsteads. This project highlights a potential need for a more in depth field study of farmstead to gather more specific age data.