Farmstead record PLS 084 - Farmstead: Street Farm (Polstead Farm)

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Summary

Street Farm (Polstead Farm), Polstead. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse, with converted buildings. Regular courtayrd U-shaped plan formed by working agricultural buildings, with additional detached elements. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Partial loss (less than 50%) of the traditional farm buildings. Located within a village

Location

Grid reference Centred TL 5992 2381 (99m by 103m)
Map sheet TL52SE
Civil Parish POLSTEAD, BABERGH, SUFFOLK

Map

Type and Period (4)

Full Description

Street Farm (Polstead Farm), Polstead. 19th century farmstead and 16th century farmhouse, with converted buildings. Regular courtayrd U-shaped plan formed by working agricultural buildings, with additional detached elements. The farmhouse is set away from the yard. Partial loss (less than 50%) of the traditional farm buildings. Located within a village (S1-6).

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.

Street Farm’s chief claim to fame is that it was once the home of William Corder, who in 1827 infamously murdered Maria Marten in the Red Barn. The timber-framed farmhouse is listed as ‘16th/17th century’ but appears to be a 15th century cross-wing house. It is currently known as ‘Corder’s House’ and is owned separately from its former farm buildings, with the name Street Farm now attached to a converted mid-19th century weatherboarded barn. The property appears as both Street Farm and Polstead Farm on early maps, but Corder’s Farm was used colloquially at least as early as 1881 when it was recorded in the census. It was a tenanted arable holding of just over 108 acres on the substantial Polstead Hall Estate at the time of the 1838 tithe survey, but neither the converted barn nor the brick barn that forms the subject of this report existed at that time. The Red Barn was an isolated field barn on the same holding 1 km to the east that was destroyed by fire in 1842. The brick and weatherboarded barns were built to replace it as part of a major mid-19th century remodelling of the main farmstead that included an integral cart lodge adjoining the brick barn’s eastern gable and a range of shelter-sheds on the west. The weatherboarded barn may be the earlier of the two but was not inspected for the purpose of this report, while the brick barn probably dates from the 1850s as suggested by the 1859 date cut into an internal wall. The brick and slate structure is of high quality, as might be expected of the wealthy Polstead Hall Estate, and represents a late example of a traditional threshing barn with a lean-to granary adjoining its rear porch. It remains very well preserved, retaining numerous original cast-iron ventilation grilles, and is of historic interest as part of an extensive farmstead that reflects the system of mixed animal husbandry known today as Victorian High Farming (S7).

Sources/Archives (7)

  • --- Unpublished document: Alston, L.. 2022. Heritage Asset Assessment: Barn at Street Farm, Polstead.
  • <S1> Unpublished document: Campbell, G., and McSorley, G. 2019. SCCAS: Farmsteads in the Suffolk Countryside Project.
  • <S2> Map: Ordnance Survey. 1880s. Ordnance Survey 25 inch to 1 mile map, 1st edition.
  • <S3> Map: Ordnance Survey. c 1904. Ordnance Survey 25 inch to 1 mile map, 2nd edition. 25".
  • <S4> Vertical Aerial Photograph: various. Google Earth / Bing Maps.
  • <S5> Map: Ordnance Survey. 1949. Ordnance Survey 6 inch to 1, mile, 3rd edition. 1:10,560.
  • <S6> Map: 182. Polstead Tithe Map.

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Related Events/Activities (2)

Record last edited

Feb 1 2024 9:15AM

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