Farmstead record WBY 020 - Farmstead: Lane Farm

Lane Farm lies in arable countryside, adjoining the western edge of the medieval Wilby Green. The 1838 tithe survey records that the farm was a tenanted holding of c.44 acres, including the two-acre green. The farmhouse is grade II-listed, timber framed and thatched, and of 15th century date. It has a queen-post truss in its sooted open hall. The timber-framed, weatherboarded 'barn' to the rear of the house was last used as animal accommodation, with a hay loft on its upper storey. It contains two mangers and a hay rack of the mid-1800s, but was built in the 1400s as a house. The two eastern bays were altered but formed an open hall with a cross-passage and a parlour door in its western gable. The original timbers are heavily sooted. The two western bays are late 16th century, with a ceiling of finely chamfered joists and evidence of four diamond-mullion windows. This replaced the smaller medieval parlour, reflecting similar alterations to the farmhouse. The hall's ceiling is an early 17th century insertion, supported by a chimney in the medieval cross-passage. The building may have been a bakehouse before conversion into animal accommodation by removing the chimney in the mid-1800s. Medieval records often refer to domestic houses on the same tenement, but surviving examples are exceptionally rare. Given its date and importance the 'barn' is worthy of its own grade II listing.

There is also a 17th C 3 bay threshing barn, with 2 bays constructed from timber-framing and the other from clay lump. The frame was rebuilt and raised and the barn re-roofed in the 19th C. In addition there is a 19th C timber-framed shelter shed (S1).

2012: An archaeological monitoring was carried out during works associated with a former medieval inset house, which had subsequently been used as an outbuilding. The site was located at Lane Farm, Foals Green, Wilby, in Suffolk. The project monitored the lowering of floor levels within the outbuilding and the excavation of two footings trenches joining it to the farmhouse, which is a Grade II Listed Building (LB no. 280270). Historic map evidence suggested that the outbuilding had been moved a short distance and the absence of floor or fireplace evidence associated with the inset house strongly supports this. A medieval pit producing 12th-14th pottery, and the remains of a former external yard surface indicate earlier occupation activity and the previous farm layout (S2).

Lane Farm, Wilby. 17th century farmstead and 15th century farmhouse. Regular courtyard full plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Partial loss (less than 50%) of the traditional farm buildings. Located within a hamlet (S3-S8).

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.