Farmstead record HCH 031 - Farmstead: Bridge Farm

Bridge Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed OS map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular courtyard U-plan with the farmhouse attached to the agricultural range. The farmstead is set alongside a public road in a village location. This farmstead survives intact with large scale modern infrastructure on the side.

The farmhouse is a Grade II 17th C house, or perhaps earlier.

The barn is a timber-framed and weatherboarded almost 30m. The roof is steeply pitched and was originally thatched, but now is covered in corrugated asbestos. The structure is currently a single piece and has evidence of an unusually complicated and historically interesting evolution:
The original 17th C structure consisted of three bays, with an entrance in the N end of the E elevation. Its clasped-purlin roof structure still survives, complete with curved wind braces, though most of the stud have been re-newed in the 19th C. The barn was extended by at least one bay in the 17th C and by a further 3 in the 19th C.

The farm complex was enlarged considerably in the 19th C with the creation of extensive cattle yards and a formally detached granary, which was later attached to the barn's S gable and retains a series of unusually complete boarded grain bins on its upper storey.

Given the barn's early origin and the in tact roof structure, together with the historic interest of its unusual layout, it merits a listing in its own right at Grade II.

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-S4).