Farmstead record BUX 060 - Farmstead: Maypole Farm

The timber-framed and rendered building consists of two principal phases of construction, with an early-16th century wing against the road and a mid-17th century wing adjoining at right-angles to the rear. The latter retains a fine chimney stack with octagonal shafts and projecting gables at both ends of its roof, one of which bears the date 1671 – which may be accurate despite the remodelling of its plaster cartouche. The interior is arranged in the standard manner with a central hall flanked by service and parlour bays, and evidence of a cross-passage survives despite the rebuilding of the hall’s rear wall. This wing consists in part of re-used timber that would have been hidden by original plaster until the 1990s. The projecting wing dates from the second quarter of the 16th century and is very different in character, with ostentatious features more usually associated with merchants’ houses in nearby towns rather than farmhouses. It contained a single large room on each floor, each with high-quality ceilings of roll-moulded joists, and was jettied with an oriel window, roll-moulded mullions and exposed timbers with brick nogging to the north-east (from which direction the house was formerly approached). An original chimney against its roadside gable was rebuilt later in the 16th century, possibly in conjunction with the present crow-stepped gable which is decorated with diaperwork to its roof and ground storey but curiously not to its intermediate first storey. This wing would have formed the fashionable new parlour of a medieval house which stood on the site of the 17th century wing, although its precise configuration cannot be determined with any certainty. The narrow bay which links the two structures is contemporary with the later wing, and was designed to accommodate the predecessor of the existing Victorian stair. The Tudor wing was initially entered only from medieval house, but the insertion of an external door raises the possibility that it was converted into a ‘unit’ house for a semi-independent family member (S1).

Maypole Farm, Buxhall. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse. Loose courtyard two-sided plan formed by working agricultural buildings, with additional detached elements. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Only the farmhouse survives. Located within a village (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.