Site Event/Activity record ESF21288 - Building Recording at Abbey Farm, South Elmham All Saints

Abbey Farm lies in open countryside on the northern side of St. Margaret's Road, approximately 1.25 km north-west of All Saints Common. It appears to have faced a broad medieval green which extended towards the Rectory and church of All Saints 500 m to the south and it may well occupy an ancient site. The farmhouse is a timber-framed and rendered structure of the 18th century or earlier, and was shown on Hodskinson's county map of 1783, but is not listed and was derelict and inaccessible at the time of inspection. At the time of the tithe survey in 1839 the farm was a very modest tenanted arable holding of only 10.5 acres. The timber-framed threshing barn to the east of the house is an unusually small example of just two bays and 7.5 m in length, reflecting the scale of the farm. It can be dated on stylistic grounds to the second quarter of the 19th century and appears to be shown on the tithe map of 1839, but replaced an earlier barn on the same site as indicated by Hodskinson. The building is well-framed in oak and is of considerable historic interest as it illustrates the nature of early-19th century barns on very small tenanted farms (of which relatively few survive in anything like their original form). The buildings survey was carried out prior to the conversion of these farm buildings to holiday lets. Project status: Complete Yes, Validated Yes Previous/Future Work: Previous Not known, Future No Associated Identifiers: HER event no. SEN 063 Project Type: Building Recording Methods and Techniques: Photographic Survey, Survey/Recording Of Fabric/Structure Reason for Investigation: Planning agreement (Section 106 or 52) Monument Type(s)/Period(s): ANIMAL SHED Modern, ANIMAL SHED Post Medieval , THRESHING BARN Post Medieval , ANIMAL SHED Modern Artefact Type(s)/Period(s): NONE None PROJECT LOCATION Area 250.00 Square metres Grid Reference: TM32808330 Point PROJECT CREATOR(S) Brief originator: Local Planning Authority (with/without advice from County/District Archaeologist) Design originator: Edward Martin Director/Manager: David Gill Supervisor: David Gill DIGITAL ARCHIVE Recipient: Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service Contents: Survey Media: Images raster / digital photography BIBLIOGRAPHY Publication Type: Grey literature (unpublished document/manuscript) Title: Agricultural Buildings at Abbey Farm, South Elmham All Saints, Suffolk, SEN 063, Heritage Asset Assessment Author(s)/Editor(s): Alston, L. Other Bibliographic Details: SCCAS Report Date: 2011 Issuer/Publisher: SCCAS Place of Issue or Publication: Bury St Edmunds Description: A4, comb bound, white cover with colour photograph, two appendices (also available in pdf format)