Farmstead record WCB 064 - Farmstead: Moat House

Moat House lies in open arable countryside 2.5 km south of Wetheringsett village. The 16th century grade II-listed farmhouse occupies an exceptionally well preserved moat which until its enclosure in the mid-19th century adjoined a large 59-acre common known as Brockford Green. At the time of the 1841 tithe survey the farm was a substantial tenanted holding of 164 acres with 45 acres of pasture and three common rights on Brockford Green. It then possessed a complete moat with a bridge facing a 'base' courtyard in the typical medieval pattern. The L-shaped shelter-sheds which form the subject of this report formed the south-eastern corner of an extensive new mid-19th century cattle yard complex and were depicted for the first time on the Ordnance Survey of 1904. The pantiled and weatherboarded single-storied sheds are open to the yard but include an enclosed feed store or loose box at their junction. Their softwood framing is typical of the late-19th and early-20th centuries with nailed bracing and iron pins in the roof trusses. With the exception of a ruinous brick stable and fragmentary yard walls the rest of the farm complex has been demolished, including the main barn, and the shelter-sheds have been truncated and partly rebuilt. While the site of Moat House is of considerable historic importance, given its well-preserved moat and the likelihood that the demolished barn formed part of a medieval 'base court', the shelter sheds are of relatively recent origin and are not of significant historic interest in themselves (S1).

Moat House, Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse. Regular courtyard full plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Significant loss (over 50%) of the traditional farm buildings. Located within a hamlet (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.