Farmstead record BMF 037 - Farmstead: Holly Tree Farm

Holly Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed OS map and the Bramfield Tithe map. The farmhouse is listed and dated to the early 17th century. The farmstead is laid out in a regular H plan with the farmhouse detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road and in an isolated position. The H-plan appears to be largely intact with only partial loss (25%) and some additional mdoern working buildings added to the site.

The house at Holly Tree Farm is a picturesque and historically important timber-framed and rendered structure of unusually complex origin. The building evolved dramatically in three distinct phases during the early- to mid-17th century, and preserves a number of impressive period features including an exceptional number of moulded doors and one of the finest jettied porches in Suffolk. A broadly contemporary threshing barn in the farm yard to the north completes the site, with evidence of pin-hinged doors facing the road on the west and a stable with a hay loft in its southern bay. The earliest part of the L-shaped house lies to the rear of the present western facade and initially formed a standard house of circa 1620-30 with a central hall flanked by a chimney and parlour to the east and a service bay on the west. It faced the farmyard and the northern arm of the road and contained an early example of a lobby entrance. Soon afterwards, in circa 1630-40, a new cross-wing was added to the west to provide additional accommodation in the manner of a ‘unit house’. There is evidence of utilitarian diamond-mullion windows in all but the northern gable which has been rebuilt. The property was considerably aggrandized in circa 1640-60 by a series of alterations that involved a change of orientation with a new facade on the west. This was dominated by the exceptionally well preserved porch containing open balustrades on both sides of its lower storey. The plain windows were replaced with ovolo-moulded mullions at the same time, and a fine crow-stepped chimney with a sawtooth shaft was added to the gable to the heat the southern room. A large stair tower with unusual side compartments was built to the rear (its staircase sadly replaced), and another new chimney with an identical sawtooth top was inserted into the original service bay to heat the rest of the western wing. The original chimney in the bake-house was removed at the same time to normalise the wing’s layout. Subsequent changes included the insertion of fine casement windows which retain their original leaded lights in the 18th century and the excavation of a half cellar beneath the stair tower. The internal sawtooth chimney was lost to a fire in 1998 but many other 17th century features are likely to survive, including hidden fireplaces in the gable chimney and possibly wall paintings on or behind the plaster (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.