Farmstead record PSG 019 - Farmstead: Poslingford House

Poslingford House is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a loose courtyard plan with the farmhouse detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. This farmstead survives intact with conversion for residential use. (S2-5)

Poslingford House is a substantial grade II-listed early-19th century country house lying in its own park 1.5 km north of Poslingford village. The single-storied red-brick coach house belonging to the property lies on the northern side of a walled garden 200m north-east of the house. The house, garden and coach house were probably built for Colonel Thomas Weston in circa 1820 and the property was formerly known as both Shadow Bush and Poslingford Park. The coach house has been much altered but appears to have contained a pair of stables with arched windows divided by a central tack room or chaff house to the west and a pair of vehicle sheds to the east. It was shown with its original rectangular outline on the tithe map of 1842 but had acquired a lean-to conservatory to its southern (garden) elevation by the time of the first edition Ordnance Survey of 1885. The present corrugated asbestos roof is an addition of the mid-20th century and the interior of the stable was stripped of its partitions and the arrangement of doors changed at the same time. The building is of historic interest given its link with the grade II-listed mansion but its integrity has been considerably depleted and is now confined to its profile and the external appearance of its northern façade. The attached conservatory and walled garden are also of significance insofar as they illustrate the management of a large garden in the Edwardian heyday of the country house (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.