Farmstead record FSF 067 - Farmstead: Moat Farm (Lambert's Farm)

Moat Farm lies approximately 2km south-east of Fressingfield village. The grade II-listed farmhouse is a timber-framed structure of c.1600 lying within a moat which appears to remain largely intact, but has been filled on the west to accommodate the present 19th century barn and yard. At the time of the 1838 tithe survey the farm was a mid-sized arable tenanted holding. The four-bay cart lodge lies in the south-west of the main yard and is a single storied weatherboarded structure of typical form with a fully hipped pantiled roof. It was shown on the 1884 Ordnance Survey but not the 1838 tithe map (although a possible predecessor lay in close proximity) and its prefabricated softwood roof trusses and other carpentry features are characteristic of c.1880. The original roughly-hewn arcade posts remain in situ, along with their chamfered and nailed lintels, but the building was enclosed during the 20th century to form a storage shed and workshop. The northern bay was initially divided from the rest by a boarded internal partition with an integral brick plinth but this had been largely removed. As a late example of its type which has been altered the cart lodge is of limited historic significance in itself, but its original red pantiles reflect those of the nearby barn and clay-lump sheds and the building forms part of a traditional 19th century farm complex of merit. Its location is also of historic interest given its possible location on the missing western edge of the medieval moat.

This survey was carried out prior to the conversion of the cart lodge (S1).

Moat Farm (Lambert's Farm), Fressingfield. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse. Regular courtyard multi-yard plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. The farmstead is extant. Located within an isolated position (S2-7).

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.