Farmstead record SEN 063 - Farmstead: Abbey Farm

Abbey Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a parallel plan with the farmhouse detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. All working buildings have been lost with modern sheds to the side.

Abbey Farm lies in open countryside on the northern side of St. Margaret's Road, approximately 1.25 km north-west of All Saints Common. It appears to have faced a broad medieval green which extended towards the Rectory and church of All Saints 500 m to the south and it may well occupy an ancient site. The farmhouse is a timber-framed and rendered structure of the 18th century or earlier, and was shown on Hodskinson's county map of 1783, but is not listed and was derelict and inaccessible at the time of inspection. At the time of the tithe survey in 1839 the farm was a very modest tenanted arable holding of only 10.5 acres.

The timber-framed threshing barn to the east of the house is an unusually small example of just two bays and 7.5 m in length, reflecting the scale of the farm. It can be dated on stylistic grounds to the second quarter of the 19th century and appears to be shown on the tithe map of 1839, but replaced an earlier barn on the same site as indicated by Hodskinson. The building is well-framed in oak and is of considerable historic interest as it illustrates the nature of early-19th century barns on very small tenanted farms (of which relatively few survive in anything like their original form). Also present is a 19th C clay lump shed used for housing cattle. The buildings survey was carried out prior to the conversion of these farm buildings to holiday lets (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.