Farmstead record NRN 025 - Farmstead: Meadowview

Meadowview is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular U-plan with the farmhouse detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in a hamlet location. There has been a partial loss of working buildings with a large residential extension to the farmhouse. (S5-8)

A mid C16 timber-framed Grade II* listed barn of 6 bays, with a queen-post roof now clad in corrugated asbestos and 19th C black finished weatherboarding. This structure has a high quality timber frame with some very rare features which are not traditional to Suffolk, including double tie beam braces and a ridge piece to the roof.

The barn is currently in an advanced state of collape and is on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register. Temporary internal shoring was installed in 2001 however the barn has continued to lean and has become separated from the plinth that it sits upon in some areas.

A 19th C lean to extension still stands at the south gable end of the barn. (S1)

The barn also uses a base cruck within its construction (S2).

The barn was originally constructed as a threshing barn, although today it is used for storage. An extra door was added during the 18th C, at which time a number of other alterations were also carried out, to enable the addition of a second threshing floor. This reflects agricultural changes at the time (S3).

2016: Tree-ring analysis was undertaken on samples from timbers of the roof and wall framing believed to be associated with the primary construction phase. Timbers associated with the later alterations in relation to the doorways were also analysed. A wall plate, was felled in c. 1489 AD with two other timbers having felling dates ranges of between AD 1469-94 (earliest) and AD 1488-1513 (latest). It is thought likely that all of these primary timbers were felled in, or around, c. 1489 AD, with construction following shortley after. Analysis of the sample timbers associated with the later alterations span the period 1519-1626 AD. Doorway 1 contains two timbers felled in 1626 AD, Doorway 2 contains two timbers felled in 1625-1650 AD, a single timber from Doorway 3 was felled in 1627-52 AD, whilst two timbers from Doorway 4 were felled in 1614-38 AD. These dates suggest that the four doorways were all altered or inserted in the first half of the 17th century, possibly all in the 1620s (S4).

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.