Farmstead record WGW 027 - Farmstead: Yew Tree Farm

Yew Tree Farm lies approximately 1.5 km north-west of Worlingworth parish church. The grade II-listed farmhouse is set back from the present road, which until its enclosure in 1832 formed a linear green abutted by the timber-framed barn to the east of the house when it was first built at the beginning of the 19th century. A number of outbuildings were shown here on a manuscript map of 1611, but only the barn and house were present at the time of the 1837 tithe survey. The barn contains three bays with a roof of staggered butt-purlins that was designed for thatch, but there is no trace of the re-used timber and 'roundwood' often associated with barns of this period. It reflects the cereal boom of the Napoleonic wars and the decades of artificially high grain prices before the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. It preserves a brick threshing floor laid in herringbone pattern, and large areas of its original external cladding of roughcast clay daub above lower weatherboarding. The barn pre-dates the 1840 watershed for listing at grade II, but the loss of its thatch and original doors means that it is probably too heavily altered to meet the strict English Heritage criteria. It is nonetheless a good example of a type of barn that is increasingly rare in anything approaching original condition. A number of lean-to structures are associated with the barn, including a stable and a acowhouse (S1).

Yew Tree Farm, Worlingworth. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse with converted buildings. Loose courtyard one-sided plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. The farmstead is extant within a hamlet (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.