Farmstead record OTY 054 - Farmstead: Villa Farm

Villa Farm is a farmstead visible on the 1st Ed Os Map. The farmstead is laid out in a multi-yard pattern with a full regular courtyard and a further F-plan range. 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 F-plan range replaced by modern sheds.

The timber-framed and weatherboarded barn adjoins the track to the west of Villa Farm farmhouse and is fully visible from the public highway. It forms an unusually impressive and historically important structure of the early-17th century. The present building contains seven bays and extends to 71 feet in length (21.6 m) but represents the amalgamation of two frames that were originally separated by an internal partition: a barn of five bays to the west with a central southern entrance and a fully-floored structure of two bays to the east. The latter contains evidence of at least five ‘diamond mullion’ windows and two external doors, and originally contained both a first floor and an attic storey. This building was probably designed as a stable, and as such is among the most substantial and sophisticated examples of its type in the county. The ceilings have been removed but in other respects the timber frame remains largely intact, with an original roof structure of double butt-purlins and a particularly attractive array of symmetrical wind-braces and wall braces. A long brick stable was added to the barn’s southern elevation in the mid-19th century to form an enclosed horse yard, and this too is an impressive and unusually unaltered example of its kind (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.