Farmstead record BTT 041 - Farmstead: Bugg's Farm

Bugg's Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular courtyard plan with the farmhouse attached to the agricultural range. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. There has been a significant loss of working buildings with the remaining converted for residential use. (S2-5)

The barn is a late-16th century timber-framed structure of unusual historic interest, not least because it lies in close proximity to the service gable of a contemporary farmhouse and provides evidence of the layout of local farmsteads at that period. The barn was originally designed with a three-bay threshing barn to the west and a single-bay stable with a hay loft facing the lane to the east. The structure extended to only 12.25 m in length (40.25 ft), including the stable of just 3 m (10 ft), reflecting the modest scale of the farm which contained 68.25 acres in1839. There is evidence of another structure adjoining the western gable but this was replaced a few decades later by a new, larger stable and hay loft, perhaps when the original was amalgamated with the threshing barn. The building was rendered externally and probably thatched, but the roof structure was entirely renewed in the mid-20th century and the interior now forms a single open space. The original wall framing is unusually complete, however, with the lintels of all four stable doors in situ (a record number in my experience) and evidence of the original low rear door of the threshing bay. The northern porch is an addition of the late-18th or early-19th century with the remains of a recently removed gault-brick threshing floor (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.