Farmstead record SLY 239 - Farmstead: Over Hall

Over Hall, Shotley. 19th century farmstead and 18th century farmhouse. Regular courtyard F-shaped plan 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 loose farmstead cluster (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.

The farm consists of a grade II-listed farmhouse, the rear of the building dating from the early 18th century, and the front portion, a later addition around 1778. Many of the outbuildings date from various eras. There appears to be no record of when the farm buildings were erected, although it is thought that the granary, stables, cart-lodges and barn are Victorian. A tractor shed to the south of the barn and cattle boxes to the north were built in the 1960’s. The barn had been built, and was used as, a grain-store up until the 1960’s, when a modern mechanised grainstore was built to the east of the farm to increase efficiency, as previously all grain had been moved by hand, horse and cart. After that, and up until around ten years ago, the barn was used to store cattle feed, until the feed was stored elsewhere to move it away from the busy main road. After that, it had just become a place to store miscellaneous farm machinery, building materials and rubbish, and was no longer a useful asset to the farm. In 1971, a fire swept through the farm, and some buildings were rebuilt or replaced. The fire destroyed many of the farm buildings, and damaged others, including the barn to which this application relates. Miraculously, the timber-framed cattle shed to the east of the barn, erected around 1965, survived (S8).