Farmstead record EKE 088 - Farmstead: Rookery Farm

Rookery Farm is a farmstead laid out in a regular courtyard. The farmstead is laid out in a row 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 partial loss of working buildings.

The grade II-listed brick farmhouse dates chiefly from the early-19th century and is probably contemporary with the timber-framed barn at the entrance to the site. The present barn, stable and shelter sheds are shown on the tithe map, and the former is an impressive early-19th century structure of eight bays which extends to 29 m (96 ft) in length and originally possessed two threshing bays with northern entrances. The roof structure of staggered butt-purlins survives intact, along with a full complement of both arch-braces and knee-braces. A remarkably large brick barn and grain store of highly unusual layout was erected to the north of the site in the 1850s or 1860s. This structure contains a triple-pile roof on an almost square plan of 25 m by 23 (83 ft by 76), and resembles a medieval aisled barn internally with arch-braces to its tie-beams and arcade plates. It was probably designed specifically for the Rendlesham estate, and represents a fine example of Victorian agricultural architecture. An overgrown but complete mid-19th century brick kiln of the updraught ‘Suffolk’ type survives to the east of the farmhouse. This formed part of an extensive brickworks shown on the Ordnance Survey of 1881 but already abandoned by 1902 (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.