Building record NDM 025 - The Granary, Hill House, Needham Market (17th-18th C)

The granary is a two storey brick building of the mid-17th C. The nearby house is a mock gothic structure of the 19th C, however, documentary evidence suggests it occupies the site of a 13-hearth mansion, formally belonging to Jacob Garrard Esquire in the 17th C. The granary is an ostentatious riding stable in the base court (sometimes termed a 'stately stable') and is the only recognisable element surviving from the mansion complex.

The ground floor, which incorporates an earlier building, originally contained a stable with a cross entry and 5 ovolo mullioned windows in its façade and gables. The 'blind' rear elevation probably accommodated a hay rack. The upper storey may have been reached via an external stair and was lit by 6 ovolo mullioned windows (glazed) in a way that suggests that the room was designed for social events rather than as a hay loft. A second stair gave access to an attic chamber with 4 large dormer windows.

The building was later converted into a granary when the property became a tenanted farm in the 18th C. an external loading door, grain bins and a sack hoist on the second floor were inserted. All but two of the 15 windows were blocked, reduced to ventilation slits or removed altogether. The front door was also blocked up. The blocked first floor windows retained their mullions and were provided with trompe-l'oeil painted glazing.

Despite the heavy 18th C alterations, the granary is a rare survival, offering an insight into the appearance and purpose of 17th C high status stables.

Included in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History annual round up of individual finds and discoveries for 2007(S2).