Farmstead record WGD 034 - Farmstead: Wingfield College Farm

16th century barn.

1998: The primary phase of this barn was thought to date to the early sixteenth century, although the college with which it is associated is known to have fallen out of use in the first half of that century, making a more precise dating of the barn of great historical interest to the overall site. A single timber, from an original middle rail, was felled in AD 1527. A number of other dated timbers have sapwood rings or show the heartwood-sapwood boundary. All of these have estimated felling dates which include the year AD 1527. It therefore seems most likely that the barn was built in AD 1527 or within a few years thereafter. The data provide some of the first historical oak tree-ring series for Suffolk which should be useful for dating buildings in the county in the future.

Wingfield College Farm, Wingfield. 16th century farmstead and 14th century farmhouse with converted buildings. Loose courtyard four-sided plan formed by working agricultural buildings. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. The farmstead is extant. Located within a church and manor farm group (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.