Farmstead record COT 023 - Farmstead: Park Farm

Park Farm lies in open arable countryside on the northern side of the road at Dandy Corner, approximately 1 km north-east of Cotton village. The farmhouse adjoins the road to the west of the site and is a grade II-listed timber-framed structure of the late-16th or early-17th century with a particularly fine plaster cartouche bearing the date 1691 to its front (eastern) elevation. Of a substantial complex of farm yards and buildings shown on late-19th century maps only an early-19th century timber-framed barn alongside the farmhouse and a mid-19th century clay-lump barn to the north now survive: the rest of the site was rebuilt in the mid-20th century and includes a Fletton brick workshop and vehicle shelter, a calf shed of cement blocks and a steel-framed cattle yard. The timber-framed and weatherboarded barn is a ‘Napoleonic’ example of circa 1800 in four bays which retains all four original arch-braces to its threshing bay and bolted-knee braces elsewhere. Its distinctive outline is shown on the tithe map of 1840 when the farm was a substantial tenanted holding of 176 acres shared between two occupants. The maps shows just two other outbuildings, of which one was possibly a bake-house in close proximity to the house.

By the time of the Ordnance Survey of 1886 an extensive complex of cattle yards and sheds had appeared, reflecting the region’s change from intensive arable to mixed animal husbandry, and included the clay-lump barn. The timber barn was extensively rebuilt in the mid-20th century, when its roof was entirely replaced and covered with pantiles (having probably been thatched initially) and the whole southern elevation was rebuilt in Fletton brick leaving only the storey posts intact. There is some evidence that it was originally rendered externally rather than weatherboarded. The northern barn is a good example of a mid-19th century clay lump barn of unusually large proportions for a structure of this material. It remains largely intact with its roof of staggered butt-purlins and its original external appearance despite the replacement of its tiles with corrugated asbestos. Both barns are of some historic interest given their traditional layout and external appearance, complementing the listed farmhouse and illustrating the structural differences between the two principal periods of agricultural change in 19th century Suffolk, but neither is sufficiently well preserved or of sufficient rarity to merit listing in its own right (S1).

Park Farm, Cotton. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse. Regular courtyard L-shaped mulit-yard plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Significant loss (over 50%) of the traditional farm buildings. Located within a loose farmstead cluster (S2-7).

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.