Farmstead record RNM 019 - Farmstead: Mount Pleasant Farm (Hill Farm)

Hill Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in loose courtyard plan and sits alongside a private track in an isolated location. There has been a partial loss of working buildings with the remaining in residential use.

Mount Pleasant Farm lies on the crest of a hill in open countryside approximately 1 km north-east of Rendham village. The barn is a timber-framed and weatherboarded threshing barn of three bays with a central entrance in its southern elevation and a contemporary lean-to porch to the north. It preserves an intact roof of staggered butt-purlins which contains tie-beams to the central bay but pairs of A-framed trusses to the two long outer bays; an unusual method of increasing headroom. Both the tie-beams and A-frames incorporate bolted knee-braces rather than tenoned arch-braces and indicate a date of circa 1820-30. The building survives largely intact and represents a good 'Napoleonic barn' illustrating Suffolk's agricultural boom in the wake of wartime import restrictions: It is accordingly of both historic and structural interest. A threshing floor of stone flags is probably an original feature, and the external weatherboarding preserves good evidence of its original grey pigment where protected within a number of later additions. Despite these points of interest, however, the building has lost its thatch and much of its cladding and probably fails to meet the strict English Heritage criteria for listing - although the case is marginal. The piecemeal addition of numerous animal sheds and shelters in the late-19th century is also typical of the region, which compensated for lower grain prices after the Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 by introducing mixed animal husbandry. The resulting complex is unusually complete, having altered little in outline since 1904.

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.