Farmstead record HEV 013 - Farmstead: Wood Farm

Wood Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed OS map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular U-plan. The farmhouse is detached and set away from the working buildings. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. There has been a partial loss of working buildings (S1, S2,S3).

Wood Famhouse is a timber-framed, thatched and rendered structure of the early 17th century that was formerly part of the Heveningham Hall estate. The building has been much renovated in the 20th centurym but remains of great historic interest as an exceptionally small example of its type.The studwork, where visible on the upper storey, is of poor quality, although the principal joists of the two principal rooms bear neatly cut chamfers with bold 'nicked' stops of a type found in houses of much higher status. The name R.Tompson has been branded upside down on the binding joist above the hall fireplace, almost certainly as an apotropaic devide to protect the chimney from evil spirits. The service bay to the left of the hall is a slightly later addition that replaced a smaller predecessor and was probably designed as a bake-house.

A contemporary 3 bay timber-framed threshing barn also survives at the site. The barn was extended by a bay in the 19th C to incorporate a stable, at which time the roof was repalced and raised in heigh. An area of wattle and daub has been preserved by a lean to, along with decorative graffiti bearing the initials WB and the date 1832. Several images of horses have also been incised into the internal boarding of the stable extension with further intiials dated 1896 (S1).

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 (S4).