Farmstead record MKE 042 - Farmstead: Manor Farm

Manor Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular courtyard L-plan with additional detached elements. The farmhouse is detached and set away from the yard. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. This farmstead survives intact with additional modern sheds on the side. (S2-5)

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.

The earliest map Manor Farmhouse is shown on is a plan of the Manor of Monks Eleigh dated 1724. The L-shpaed building footprint appears almost the same as today but the main part aligned N-S has two chimneys instead of the existing large sawtooth stack. The cross hatching on the buildings probably indicates timber framing. The 1840 tithe map shows the L-shaped farmhosue with a large barn immediately to the east with a porch on its east elevation. There is a small building to the north which may have been a granary/stabel/livestock shed; another building next to the road, possibly a cartshed, and two further buildings which are possibly cattle sheds on the eastern boundary of the site. The 1st edition OS maps hsows the footprint of the farm to be the same as in 1840 although additional buildings have been added.

Mnaor Farm is a significant moated site containing a house with a main wing on a N/S axis, which fabric evidence suggests probably dates from the late 15th century, and a linked service wing on an E-W axis which probably dates from the late 16th or 17th century. The main wing is two-storeyed with an attic, jettied in the east side, consisting of four bays with an inserted Tudor bricjk stack with newel stair on its west side. The main wing is attached to the service wing by a lower single storey link, partly floored to form a narrow loft. The timber frame of the service wing is less substantial and, in common with the south elevation of the main wing, has been re-faced in brick to support the structure and prevent collapse. It is probably that the existing main wing containing the principal reception rooms was the cross wing of a larger house which was replaced by the existing kitchen wing. The dining room in the north part of the main wing has two faded inscriptions above the doors. The timber lintel about the south door beside the stackhas the initials 'GG' and over the north door is the date 1610 and the remains of a painted decoration, possibly a cartouche. This may be the date at which the chimney was inserted to heat the sitting room, dining room and first floor bedrooms. In the late 19th century a small structure, possibly a rear proch, was added to the N elevation of the service wing and around the 1960s this was replaced by the existing lean to brick utility room (S1).