The Farmhouse at Pond Farm, Stoven

Summary

A multi-phase vernacular farmhouse, primarily dating to the second half of the C18 but with some earlier C17 fabric.

Reasons for Designation

The farmhouse at Pond Farm is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a good example of a C18 vernacular farmhouse;
* for its regionally distinctive materials, namely Suffolk red brick and unglazed pantiles;
* for the survival of internal fixtures such as its historic fireplaces.

Historic interest:
* for the evidence of an earlier C17 lobby entry house plan buried within the existing structure;
* dating from the height of the Agricultural Revolution, the farmhouse illustrates an important phase in the development of English farming practice and the operation of the farmstead at Pond Farm.

Group value:
* for its strong historic functional association with the other listed structures at Pond Farm: the threshing barn, cart lodge, and waggon lodge.

History

Pond Farm was historically known as Green Farm after Middle Green (or Further Green), which lies immediately south of the farmstead.

The house appears externally to date from the second half of the C18. Hidden within the fabric of the building, however, are elements of an older C17 lobby entry house plan.

By the C18 much of coastal Suffolk formed part of large private estates and was managed by tenant farmers with mixed farms. This was the case at Pond Farm which remained tenanted into the 2010s.

The house is four bays long, arranged roughly west to east. The two western bays contain the oldest fabric, with some timber framing visible externally and internally, alongside a massive back-to-back chimney stack with the traces of an external door on the north side and an original spiral stair compartment on the south.

At some point in the second half of the C18 the building was extensively remodelled with the construction of external brick walls and a new roof. The east end of the house was extended or further reconstructed at some point between the end of the C18 and 1838, forming a new kitchen. Subsequently, a large larder or pantry was built on to the kitchen's south side, bridging the gap between the farmhouse and the threshing barn.

Evidence of change to the location of windows and doors can be read through the brickwork of the building.

Alterations in the C19 include the installation of a copper boiler and bread oven in the kitchen, along with a staircase added in the same area. Some C19 cast iron fire grates were installed.

In the C20 the kitchen floor was replaced with a concrete slab, and one of the ground floor fireplaces was replaced with a gas fire in a tiled surround.

Details

A multi-phase vernacular farmhouse, primarily dating to the second half of the C18 but with some earlier C17 fabric.

MATERIALS

The house is walled in red brick, has some structural timber components, and the roofs are covered in unglazed pantiles.

PLAN

The house is four bays long with a larder attached to the south side of the eastern bay. Evidence survives of a C17 lobby entry plan though the building no longer conforms to this type.

EXTERIOR

The building is four bays long and two storeys high. The walls are built of red brick laid predominantly in Flemish bond and the pitched roofs are covered in unglazed pantiles. There are gables to the east and west. At the west end there is a lean-to extension on the north side. At the east end the building has been extended to the south where it connects to a threshing barn.

The south elevation faces on to the farmyard. There are three chimneys through the ridge of the roof. At ground floor there are two entrances, two blocked windows and one wooden casement window with a flat brick arch. At first floor there are three wooden casement windows, two dating from the C20. The anchors for several tie bars appear across the elevation.

The side elevation of the larder projects southwards. It is one and a half storeys high and is built of red brick laid in monk bond. The entrance has been altered and includes a C19 plank and batten door; there is also a C20 wooden casement window beneath a segmental arch.

The west elevation is a plain brick gable with wooden casement windows beneath flat brick arches at ground and first floor. On the left-hand-side is a projecting lean-to extension.

The wall of the north elevation is brick, except in the west bay where an area of exposed timber studs and historic render survives above the roofline of the lean-to extension. This W bay also has evidence of a small window but the rest of the elevation has no openings above ground floor and the brickwork of the eastern end shows signs of successive phases of alteration. At ground floor, the middle bay has a C18 entrance with shallow arched head and a six-panelled door in a wooden surround. The straight-headed entrance in the east bay is of C20 date, its door with a glazed upper panel. There are two C18 windows flanking the C18 entrance, with arched heads of similar profile, each frame of 12 lights divided by glazing bars. A third wooden casement window to the east is of later date, with nine lights.
The lean-to W extension is walled in brick with a chimney on the east side, and roofed with corrugated sheets.


The east elevation comprises a brick gable wall terminating in a chimney stack. Two attic windows appear to have been blocked. There are two first-floor wooden casement windows beneath segmental brick arches. The ground floor's right bay has a small wooden window with a top-light. The left bay has C20 lean-to extension built of stretcher-bond brickwork with a corrugated sheet roof. On the south side is the east elevation of the larder extension to the kitchen; it is built of monk-bond brickwork.

INTERIOR

The interior reflects the building's multi-phase vernacular character and retains a high proportion of historic features.

The floor coverings are brick or pamment at ground floor (except the kitchen which has a concrete floor) and deal boards at first floor.

The fireplaces date from the C18 and C19 with cast iron grates. It is likely that earlier openings may exist behind the current fixtures, particularly the back-to-back stack in the western bay. One ground floor fireplace was built over in the 1930s when a gas fire was installed with a tiled surround. The large kitchen fire has been built out so that a range cooker could be installed, but the original opening is likely to survive, as does a C19 bread oven and copper boiler.

The joinery is also a mixture of C18 and C19 dates, including plain skirtings and architraves, plank and batten doors, shelves and cupboards. There is an unusual door made of lathes rather than planks in the western first floor room.

Sources

Other
Tithe map for the parish of Stoven, 1838
Ordnance Survey 25" sequence from 1883 – 1977
Google earth satellite imaging sequence from 1999 to 2019
Historic Farmsteads. Preliminary Character Statement: East of England Region. English Heritage (Historic England), 2006.

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