Building record IXW 118 - Roadside Barn at Dover Farm

2016: The barn structure is typical of the early 19th century and is not included on Ixworth enclosure map of circa 1800. The barn (or neat-house) bears the neatly inscribed name of ‘C. Fyson’ on an internal post alongside the date 1799. These are probably genuine foundation inscriptions and an Ixworth farmer called Samuel Fyson died in 1803 while the gravestone of a Charles Fyson who died in 1821 can be seen in the parish churchyard. The neat-house extends to 18.3m long and contains evidence of two original entrances in its southern wall which corresponds with a pair of enclosed animal yards depicted on the tithe map of 1840 when the property, then known as Low Street Farm., was a tenanted holding of 102 acres on the Ixworth Abbey estate. This structure is an exceptionally large and early example of its kind, and is accordingly of considerable historic interest. Very few agricultural buildings of this scale, other than threshing barns, pre date the mid-19th century; earlier neat-houses were usually located in pastures rather than farmyards and are now notoriously rare. The location of this example adjoining a riparian pasture on the edge of a substantial town probably explains its scale and proximity to the farmhouse. The barns entire roof and most of its ceiling has been replaced (S1).