Farmstead record BND 014 - Farmstead: Red Lion Cottage

Red Lion Cottage is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular L-plan. The farmstead sits alongside a public road in an isolated location. This farmstead has been converted for residential use. (S1-4)

Red Lion Cottage is a well-preserved timber-framed house of the mid-16th century. At first sight the house is typical of many small farmhouses in East Anglia, reflecting the usual 17th century pattern of a central ‘lobby-entrance’ hall flanked by a large brick chimney and parlour on one side and an unheated storage room on the other; but this arrangement represents the remodelling of a rare Tudor ‘transitional house. When first built in the third quarter of the 16th century the fully-floored hall was heated by a timber-framed chimney that contained a single fireplace with an adjacent ‘baffle’ entrance. Houses of this type illustrate the transition between the open halls of the Middle Ages and the developed post-medieval layouts of the 17th century, and were quickly superseded as expectations of domestic comfort changed. Within a century of its construction the timber chimney at Red Lion Cottage was replaced by the present brick example, which contains three fireplaces, and the house was extended westwards by nine feet to accommodate it. At some later period the property was divided into three cottages and a further extension added in what appears to be cob or clay lump, although it now forms a single dwelling once more (S5).

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.