Farmstead record SBK 107 - Farmstead: Stradbroke Hall

Stradbroke Hall, Stradbroke. 19th century farmstead and 15th century manorfarmhouse. Regular courtyard L-shaped plan with buildings to the third side, formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Partial loss (less than 50%) of the traditional farm buildings Located within a village (S1-6).

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.

Hall Barn lies to the south of the site in the vicinity of Stradbroke Hall and to which it was formerly linked, although now separate and in different ownership. It has distinct features of early 17th or even late 16th timber framed construction and the barn sits in combination with other buildings that together form a typical courtyard encasement. None of the present buildings appear on the 1835 tithe map and several buildings shown on that plan no longer exist. Most of the present buildings are shown on the 1st edition Ordnacne Survey map of 1886. The barn was originally part of the farmstead of Stradbroke Hall Farm, which originated from the 15th century, with considerable alterations and extensions in each subsequent century, up to the late 19th century. On the principal barn the threshing porch, for no obvious reason, is directly facing the moat and the doors have been sealed off. This, together with the map evidence, gives a clear indication that the barn has been re-erected from elsewhere between 1835 and 1886. This was a period of high agricultural industry and development at a time when the building would have been extensively used. It is further conjectured that due perhaps to the barn's size and location relatively close to the church, that it was a former tithe barn for the collection and storage of tithes from farmers in the vicinity.

The principal barn is a large five bay threshing barn of late 16th/early 17'h century origins which underwent various remodelling in the mid19th century which included two extra bays and further repairs and modification. The brickwork plinths are of 19th century origin and the main structural frame of the original barn exhibits distinct early frame configuration. In one bay a distinct diamond mullion window appears, which was typical of the pre-1700 openings. The east gable wall appears to be 18th century, using smaller, intermediate timber framed studs. The west gable has been removed below the tie beam level on the original five bay barn, but the construction above in the gable triangle has been reformed and infilled in wattle and daub. The threshing entrance porch on the north side of the barn appears to be an 18th century timber framed construction and the roof structure would appear to be 18th century, but the rafters are unrelated to the bays below, formed by the tie beams/principal trusses.
The complex also inlcudes a double bay stable block of probable 19th century date. The external face is wattle and daub at first floor level (complete with high level pitching door to the south) and feather-edged boarding at ground floor level, and complete with a pair of stable doors, one at either end of the south elevation. The gabled pitched roof is finished in black clay pantiles. Inside, the construction shows clear evidence of re-used timber and displaying 19th century construction techniques. Attached is a 19th century timber-framed gable building with a clay pantile roof, probably alos used as a stable.
To the immediate south of Hall Barn is single storey four bay 19th century building that was likely a cartshed/animal shelter. The building is clay lump on a brick plinth and with birck quoins (S7).