Farmstead record FNM 022 - Farmstead: Pond Barn,

Pond Barn comprises a ‘U’ shaped group of three, single storey agricultural buildings that probably date from the early 19th century although they have all been modified and extended in the 20th century. The Ordnance Survey County Series Map of 1883 shows that only Pond Barn was built at this time, along with Pond Barn Cottages to the north.

The principal building on the site is a modest, 3 bay, brick-built barn that is located at the head of the hard-surfaced courtyard which is enclosed on each side by the other two outbuildings – a cart lodge and a former stable. The principal elevation of the barn faces south-west onto the courtyard and contains a pair of large, side-hung timber doors. The barn has a pitched, gabled roof that is clad with traditional clay pantiles. The walls are in red brick, laid in Flemish Garden Wall Bond, and the gable ends of the roof are weather-boarded above eaves height, with timber bargeboards to the verges. The north-east elevation also contains a pair of timber, side-hung doors.

The outbuilding on the north side of the courtyard is an open-sided, six bay cart lodge, divided into two equal halves by a brick internal wall, although the rest of the structure is timber framed. The roof is pitched with gable ends and clad with traditional clay pantiles. This outbuilding adjoins the north-west corner of the barn.

The outbuilding on the south side of the courtyard is of similar construction to the barn with red brick walls and weather-boarded gable ends. The building was probably built as stables and the courtyard elevation contains vertical boarding interspersed with stable doors. Internally, the original building is divided into three bays by further brick walls, and there is an obvious later, lean-to addition at the north end, which incorporates a crude mono-pitch roof. The south side of this building has also been crudely extended to provide a series of covered animal stalls (6 bays), most likely for pigs. This extension is of no architectural or historic interest, being crudely built in timber frame and clad with a combination of fibre-cement corrugated sheets to the roof, and metal corrugated sheets to the walls. These later extensions detract from the architectural and historic interest of the earlier barn and outbuildings (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.