Peppertree Farm Farmhouse

Summary

Farmhouse, built in the early 16th century, with late 19th century alterations.

Reasons for Designation

Peppertree Farm farmhouse, built in the early C16 with late C19 alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a rare example of an early-C16 house lacking service rooms;
* for the high proportion of survival of its early-C16 timber frame, including chamfered beams, heavy close studding, and evidence of early-C16 door and window openings;
* for the clarity with which its early-C16 two-cell plan can still be understood.

Historic interest:

* as an illustration of the changing socio-economic history of life in the Suffolk countryside, from the early C16 to the early C21.

Group value:

* for the strong functional and historic group it forms with the late-C15 former detached kitchen at Peppertree Farm, listed at Grade II*.

History

The farmstead at Peppertree Farm has evolved from at least the late C15. The detached barn enclosing the north side of the farmyard is the oldest surviving structure on the site, constructed as a detached kitchen to the adjacent hall house in the late C15; it was converted to a barn in the early C19. The farmhouse enclosing the west side of the farmyard appears to have been built in the early C16. In 1573 the property, then known as Brettenham Smyths, was sold by Robert Smith of Brettenham, a husbandman, and the conveyance recorded a messuage of two acres together with forty acres of land. The adjacent farmstead to the west was called Smythyscrofte, and later became known as Lower Farm before it was was demolished in the C20.

The farmstead is recorded on the Tithe apportionment of 1844 as ‘farming premises’ owned by Blyth Foster and occupied by Daniel Downing. The accompanying Tithe map shows the farmstead with the T-plan barn, the rectangular plan farmhouse, and an L-plan farm building enclosing the north, west and south sides of the farmyard respectively; the farm building enclosing the south side appears to have been removed in the early C20 (it is not present on a mid-C20 photograph of the buildings or on the 1977 Ordnance Survey (OS) map).

The south end of the farmhouse was rebuilt and the building re-fronted in red brick with Suffolk white dressings in the late C19. The style of the brickwork is similar to estate cottages and lodges constructed around 1880 at Great Finborough, around 4.5 miles to the north-east. The south end also bears a sandstone plaque with the initials ‘SBW’ carved in relief, the initials of Sarah Belinda Waller. whose father Orlando Jackson purchased the farmhouse in 1899. The Wallers resided at nearby Ennals Farmhouse. The farmhouse is shown as one dwelling on the 1885 25-inch OS map with a projection from the south side, and a shallow projection on the rear (west) elevation. The building is clearly shown as subdivided on the 1904 25-inch OS map, however reverted to single-family occupancy in the C20. A historic photograph, taken from the south-east in the early to mid-C20, shows the barn with a thatched roof, and the house with a slate roof and multi-paned casement windows.

Details

Farmhouse, built in the early C16, with late C19 alterations.

MATERIALS: the structure is timber-framed and the walls are clad in red brick laid in Flemish bond with Suffolk white brick dressings. The roof is slate covered and was formerly thatched.

PLAN: the two-storey house is rectangular on plan, facing east to Hares Road, comprising a 2-cell hall house and an additional cell to the south, added later or rebuilt in the late C19. A single-storey extension was added to the rear in the late C19, and a perpendicular rectangular-plan, two-storey extension was added to the south-west corner in the early C21.

EXTERIOR: the two-storey house has a hipped slate roof, formerly thatched, with a C17 axial, red brick chimneystack to the left of centre. The principal elevation facing east to Hares Road was re-fronted in the late C19, with red brick laid in Flemish bond over a brick plinth course and Suffolk white brick dressings. The first floor has a continuous white brick sill course, and white brick crosses between each bay of the principal elevation and south side. The first floor of the south side bears a sandstone plaque with the initials ‘SBW’ carved in relief. The first-floor windows are flat-arched with 9-pane side-hung casements, and the ground-floor windows are segmental arched with 12-pane side-hung casements, all replaced in the early C21 on a like-for-like basis. The door opening to the left of centre is segmental-arched containing a C21 door and is approached by four stone steps with a wrought-iron handrail. The door between the two right bays is flat-arched and contains a half-glazed door. The south side has a single bay of windows, widened to the right in the C20. The rear (west) elevation has a white-brick surround to the southmost first-floor window, and two other first floor windows were added in the late C20 or early C21. The ground floor has a late C19 glazed garden room added to its centre. Attached to the south-west corner is a link to an early C21 two-storey extension. The north side has a single bay of windows, introduced in the C20 or C21.

INTERIOR: the two-cell room at the north end of the house represents the ground floor of an early C16 hall house and retains exposed chamfered beams with curved step chamfer stops and heavy close-studding. Evidence survives of diamond mullion windows on the front (east), back (west) and north walls. At the extreme north end of the room, there is evidence of cross-passage doorways on the front and back walls; the rear doorway is still in position and retains a depressed 4-centred arched doorway of around 1530 type. The north wall shows evidence of a blocked doorway. The wide, open fireplace on the south wall retains a cambered lintel, and the chimneystack was likely inserted or rebuilt in the C17. The recess west of the fireplace, possibly the former location of a stair, was infilled in the C19 by a Gothic arch and shelves. The cell south of the chimneystack appears to have been rebuilt when the building was re-fronted in the late C19. The straight stair to the first floor has plain stick balusters, newel posts and handrail, typical of the late C19.

At first floor level, the two-bay chamber over the hall retains an arch-braced cambered tie-beam to an open truss and simple rectangular-sectioned crown post. The timber frame is tension braced and retains exposed close studding with pegging. At the south end of the chamber, a ledged timber battened door has been fitted around the east arched brace, while the west arched brace has been cut to fit a ledged, timber battened door. A door opening to a dressing room in the north cell has been cut into the beam. Evidence survives of mullioned windows on the front, back and north walls.

Sources

Websites
Suffolk Heritage Explorer, 'HTC 075 - Farmstead: Peppertree farm', accessed 05 December 2024 from https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/Monument/MSF25282

Other
Aitkins, Philip and Wade Martins, Susanna, ‘The Farmsteads of Suffolk – A Thematic Survey’, Draft (December 1998), pp32-34

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