Building record KSY 038 - Rushes Farm (Kersey Farm)

Rushes Farm, formerly known as Kersey Farm. The farmhouse is Grade-II listed 16th century timber-framed and plastered building, with a cross wing at the south end. The barn known as Angie’s Barn dates from about the early 19th century probably during the Napoleonic War years. This was a period of great prosperity for East Anglian farmers. During this period the demand for grain increased and in consequence the price. This encouraged farmers to invest significantly in farming infrastructure and improvements in cereal production and processing. In 1812 Joseph Clarke Archer inherited Kersey Farm (Rushes Farm) from his uncle George Archer. This may be the likely construction date of the barn. The piggery dates from a much earlier period. Investigations of the timber-frame suggests a construction date in the late-16th or early-17th century. It has always served as an animal-housing building or more specifically a Neathouse and Stable.

The barn known as Angie’s barn was constructed at the beginning of the 19th century. It is four bays long and constructed in timber framing on a tall red brick plinth structure. The main barn doors are in the north wall opposite the threshing floor which is in the second bay from the east. In the threshing floor bay there is a porch on the south side, which is complete and original and appears to have always had a set of two doors which were quite wide but not very tall. The framing contains re-used timbers from a 17th or 18th century barn. The planning of the building is unusual, being four bays long and with a threshing floor to the east of centre. This appears to be to do with the access and the lie of the land. The yard has clearly always been on the north side of the barn which was enclosed with open shelter sheds and fenced yards between 1840 and 1889. The original roof is complete. It has straight collars but principal rafters and clasped purlins. There is a ridge piece that may be original. The pitch of the roof is about 50 degrees indicating that it was originally thatched. The building was originally clad in softwood boards, some of which still survive. The building was painted with black pigmented distemper.

The piggery, originally constructed as a Neathouse and Stable, served as animal housing throughout its lifespan. The building is timber-framed, circa 1600 + 50 years and is four bays long. The original building was greatly altered, probably in the Napoleonic War period at the same time as the barn was built. The north wall of the piggery was largely rebuilt in brickwork when stalls were fixed to the back walls for the first time, probably in the latter part of the 19th century. It appears that the building was originally accessed from the north. Adaptation for use as a piggery, involving concrete floors and dividers with steel railings took place in the mid 20th century. The current roof structure has an 18th century appearance with clasped purlins and straight collars, which are lapped and pegged. All of the rafters are second-hand. The majority of them have halvings for common individual collars as for a16th century roof of that type. Above the westernmost truss of the original building can be seen a hip arrangement. The pitch of the roof suggests that this building was also originally thatched.

There is a three-bay cart shed which appears on the 1840 tithe map but has been much rebuilt during the 20th century.

The farmhouse is timber-framed and of three-cell plan. At the centre is a two bay hall with evidence for a cross-passage, and there is an integral service room at the north end. A chimneystack is positioned at the south end of the hall. The date of this phase is probably mid to late 16th century. Attached at the south end of the building is an important structure dating from c.1500 which seems to have been brought to the site and re-erected to form the parlour cross wing of the 16th century house, possibly during the early 17th century. It is spaced away from the south end of that structure by the thickness of the chimneystack. Attached to the rear is a newel staircase, perhaps of about 1600, in a lean-to roofed wing on the east side. The cross wing seems to have been moved to its present site, having been partly or completely dismantled. It is jettied on the east and west sides and was formerly jettied on the south side also, that is to say on three sides. The design of the building suggests that it was freestanding and in a prominent and perhaps urban situation (S1).