Farmstead record CDD 076 - Farmstead: Valley Farm

The outbuilding forms part of a service courtyard to the rear of Valley farmhouse. It is a largely uniform single-storied, narrow flint-rubble shed with a pantiled clasped-purlin roof, but contains three phases of construction. The original building of 10.5 m in length by 2.9 m in width appears to be shown on the tithe map of 1839 and dates from circa 1820. The interior is now divided by 19th century boarded partitions into three compartments used as dog kennels and a wood shed, but there is evidence of no fewer than four original doorways in the studwork of the southern elevation facing the farmhouse. Two of these doors were low and narrow, and correspond with a pair of small yards shown on 19th century Ordnance Surveys and the building was probably designed as a range of dog kennels and storage sheds. A mid-19th century extension to the west preserves a good 19th or early-20th century chicken coop of wooden slats and evidently operated as a poultry house while a central wing of the same period was a brew-house and retains its copper.
Also present at the site is a 16th C timber-framed barn and a 19th C brick stable with a hayloft above (S1).

Valley Farm, Coddenham. 16th century farmstead and 17th century farmhouse. Regular courtyard full plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Partial loss (less than 50%) of the traditional farm buildings and farmhouse. Located within a village (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.

Exploratory work was carried out to ascertain whether the low ridge running through pasture land belonging to Miss Helen Whyles was a remnant of the agger of the Roman road (Margary 34b). Test pitting at points on the ridge showed no Roman road material or finds, revealing instead residual medieval and later finds in the up-throw used to construct the ridge, taken from the soil on either side. A map of the 1790s shows the ridge as trackway running from Blacksmiths Lane to join the old road to Needham Market; another calls it Cogmans Lane (i.e. a dealer in cogware or coarse cloth). A nearby pond was said to be a retting pond, if so, it may perhaps be related in some way. A site suggested by Miss Whyles as the site of the lost Dennys Manor revealed medieval finds of an early flat brick and greyware. Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2011 (S8).