Farmstead record CUL 044 - Farmstead: Home Farm

Home Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a model farm plan and sits alongside a public road in a village location. This farmstead survives intact with additional modern sheds on site. (S6-9)

Model Farm. C18, with additions and alterations of 1830 for the Rev. Benyon and 1890 for Lord Cadogan with further alterations of the late C20. Earliest part an 18th C 13 bay timber-framed and weatherboarded barn on a brick and flint plinth, with a clasped purlin roof and 2 threshing floors. The later structures at this site are constructed of brick and have slate roofs. The farm is comprised of a central complex of buildings mainly for cattle, with ancillary detached buildings serving other functions. Central complex made up of a barn to the south-west, and a stable block to the north-west. Behind the barn is a multi-gabled range including, at the north-west end a covered yard, then shelter sheds, loose boxes and cow stalls, aligned north-west to south east. Forming the south-east end of this range is the former cutting house, stables and cartshed building, with a waterwheel house and root house, with a granary above at the south-west end, running across the south-east gable of the barn. Across the access way to the north-east, an L-shaped range of pig sties with enclosed yard, with an attached feed house linking with a wide range to the south-east, comprised of back-to-back cart sheds, incorporating stables and a gig house. Further to the south east, a small detached range of stables formed a horse hospital.

This is a multi-period farmstead, the last phase of which was developed to house Lord Cadogan's prize dairy herd. It forms a unique summary of the aspirations of the `High Farming' era, with carefully planned provision for efficiency of cattle management, including mechanised feed preparation and delivery, and the equally thoughtful provision for horses and pigs. The changed function of the barn from crop processing and storage centre to feed preparation and storage area is graphically demonstrated on this site. The survival of a near-complete tramway system, and the water wheel driven power system is particularly rare, and further enhances the significance of a notable C19 model farm (S1 & S2).

Farm visited by the Suffolk Industrial Society on 17th June 1995 (S3 & 4).

Home Farmhouse is a medieval timber-framed structure which uses a base cruck within its construction (S5).

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.