Farmstead record SUT 291 - Field Barn: Methersgate Barn

Methersgate Barn is a 19th century threshing barn. The barn sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. This barn survives intact.

2010: A Historical Assessment of Methersgate Barn was undertaken. Methersgate Barn is a typical East Anglian threshing barn, built c.1830s. The timber-framed and weatherboarded structure is in five bays with a southern entrance and a mid-19th century lean-to shed to the rear which replaced te smaller porch shown in 1844. Its hipped clasped-purlin roof is secured by bolted knee-braces and was probably designed for slate but is now covered with corrugated iron. The wall framing remains largely intact, but it is not of high quality and much of the external building has been renewed, although an area within the later shed preserves original grey pigment that pre-dates the tar used elsewhere. A number of cattle sheds and feed stores were added to the west and south in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and grain floors were inserted on both sides of the entrance bay. The grain floors survive intact but of the outbuildings only a single shelter-shed now remains (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.