Farmstead record BRN 012 - Farmstead: Red House Farm

Red House Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed OS map and the Brandeston Tithe map. The farmstead is laid out in a parallel plan with the farmhouse detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead is set alongside a public raod in a village location. The barn was previously listed though it has been delisted and demolished now. It was a 19th century amalgamation of a late 16th/ early 17th C barn and early to late 17th C barn. Nothing but the farmhouse remains.

The barn extends 27.5m in length by 6m in width. It represents a 19thC amalgamation of a late 16th or early 17th C barn of three bays and a slightly later barn of five bays adjoining its eastern gable (late 17th C). Each barn contained a central, south facing threshing floor and the eastern bay of the later barn was floored and partitioned to form a stable. The resulting linear arrangement of twin barns with a stable anticipates the 'model farm' layouts of the 18th and 19th centuries and is of considerable historical interest. The outer gables and parts of the walls had been demolished prior to inspection and the roof and external cladding entirely removed , but the earlier timber-frame retained impressive cambered tie-beams and unusually elegant arch-braces; its walls differed from those of its later neighbour in posessing internally trenched braces and lacking mid-rails (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 (S1).

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2008 (S6).