Farmstead record SUT 287 - Farmstead: Ferry Farm

Ferry Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular U-plan with additional detached elements. The farmhouse is detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. There has been a partial loss of working buildings with the remaining converted for residential use.

Ferry Farmhouse is grade II-listed and is dated to the 16th century in the Historic England schedule, and a large weatherboarded and pantiled double barn of 8 bays to the north originated around the same time as a modest 3-bay structure. The barn is not listed in its own right but illustrates the key phases of agricultural change in Suffolk over four centuries. The 3-bay structure of the late-16th or early-17th century retains much of its original framing, with internally trenched wall braces and a clasped-purlin roof that was initially half-hipped, reflecting the agricultural boom of its period. Many East Anglian farmsteads were rebuilt in a similar manner as cereal prices rose sharply, but it is relatively uncommon to find a house and barn of the same date. The farm layout here was abnormal with the barn at some distance from the house and apparently approached from opposite directions. The barn was dramatically enlarged during the early part of the 19th century, with extensions to both north and south creating a building of eight bays with twin threshing floors. Three of the new bays preserve a particularly fine roof structure of staggered butt-purlins that contrasts with the secondhand timber in their walls and may have been re-used from an 18th century predecessor. This much enlarged building was thatched and weatherboarded, and reflected a second agricultural boom in Suffolk. By 1880 the barn had acquired its present outline, with a series of new lean-to storage and shelter-sheds adjoining horse and cattle yards in the typical manner of Victorian High Farming. The thatch was probably replaced with pantiles as part of this third phase of refurbishment, but the new sheds were largely rebuilt in the mid-20th century (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.