Farmstead record EBG 079 - Farmstead: Manor Farm

Manor Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular E-plan. 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 significant loss of working buildings with modern sheds on site. (S2-5)

The timber-framed and weatherboarded farm buildings form an unusually complete and picturesque complex of the late-19th and early-20th centuries that illustrates the nature of mixed animal husbandry on the region’s smaller farms. Most complexes of this type were largely destroyed by the needs of intensive cereal farming and pig production during the mid-20th century. The various buildings are accordingly of considerable historic interest as a group, and include detached and lean-to shelter-sheds, loose boxes, a milking parlour and a particularly unusual and well preserved stable built between 1881 and 1902 but reflecting much older traditions. The main threshing barn is of special historic value as it was built as a small three-bay structure in the mid- to late-16th century and retains much of its wall framing. It initially faced south towards the farmhouse but is now entered from the north. Its length was increased by a westward extension in the early-17th century, and by a second in the early-19th century that almost certainly related to the dramatic change of 1817 in the local landscape. Tudor barns of this diminutive scale, extending to just 11.25 m in length (37 ft), were once common but are now rare survivals, particularly in southern Suffolk (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.