Farmstead record PSH 022 - Farmstead: Manorhouse Farm

Manorhouse Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os map. The farmstead is laid out in a regular U-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. There has been a significant loss of working buildings with the remaining converted for residential use.

A grade-II listed timber-framed and rendered building. Built in three distinct phases in the mid- and late-16th century, each phase following the other in rapid succession, it illustrates the dramatic increase in expectations of domestic comfort during the Elizabethan period. The earliest structure lies in the centre of the house between the left-hand (western) chimney and the step in its roof; this was probably designed as the new parlour range of a medieval hall, and preserves an exceptionally rare mid-16th century external gable of roughcast plaster – complete with barge-boards. A fashionable new house was added to this right-hand gable within a decade or two, lit by an array of glazed tripartite windows and complete with a cross-passage, hall and parlour but lacking a service room – for which purpose part of the old parlour range is likely to have been converted. The new parlour contained a plaster ceiling at a time when such things were still expensive luxuries and its window mullions were finely cavetto-moulded. Unusually an original dormer window in the attic faced to the rear rather than the front, where it commanded fine views of the 200 acres that belonging to the farm when it was sold in 1913. The medieval hall to the left was probably downgraded at this point into a ‘unit-house’ for a junior or senior member of the family, but shortly afterwards it too was rebuilt with moulded windows to a more modern late-Elizabethan standard. Some refurbishment occurred in the right-hand section at the same time, including alterations to the rear window in the parlour and – probably – the rebuilding of the main chimney to accommodate first-floor fireplaces. The resulting building extended to over 28 metres or 93 feet in length and remains among the longest farmhouses in Suffolk. During the 17th century a second north-facing dormer was inserted into the earliest roof and the western chimney was rebuilt, but in most respects the Elizabethan building remains largely intact (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.