Threshing barn and attached structures at Pond Farm, Stoven

Summary

A late-C18 threshing barn with later stables and attached structures from the mid- and late-C19 and the second half of the C20.

Reasons for Designation

The threshing barn and attached structures at Pond Farm is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a largely intact example of a threshing barn complete with its threshing floor;
* for its vernacular craftsmanship, including the survival of its original roof structure.

Historic interest:
* as an illustration of the smaller tenant farm architecture of eastern Suffolk and the mixed practice of farming that tended to prevail on such estates;
* dating from the height of the Agricultural Revolution, the threshing barn and attached structures reflect 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 farmhouse, 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.

Evidence from the fabric of the farmhouse suggests that the site has been occupied since at least the C17. However, the farmhouse was remodelled in the second half of the C18 and most of the working buildings around the farmyard date from the later C18 or early-to-mid C19.

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 threshing barn, the cart lodge, the waggon lodge and store were all extant by 1838, at which date they were recorded on the tithe map for the parish of Stoven. Also shown on that map was an additional outbuilding and small cattle yard between the barn and the southern pond which was demolished at some point between 1977 and 1999.

Between 1838 and 1883 a second outbuilding with a small cattle yard was constructed alongside that mentioned above. This building survives but has not been assessed as access was not possible (2024).

Threshing barns typically constituted the largest and most impressive buildings to be found at a farmstead besides or sometimes surpassing the farmhouse. The relatively small size of the Pond Farm threshing barn is reflective of the smaller nature of the tenant farm itself and the mixed practice of farming that was historically undertaken here. It was constructed with a threshing floor between large opposing doors to the east and west (the western doors within a porch) so that cereal crops could be threshed to remove grain from chaff in a cross draught. The winnowed grain would be stored in the larger northern bays of the barn until dry when it could be removed to a granary, or further processed or sold. The threshed straw could be stored in the remaining areas of the barn.

The threshing porch allowed room for the storage of carts and other equipment, or the stabling of animals. These functions were expanded in the later C19 and C20 as the barn was extended in several phases: a larger stable or shelter was created perpendicular to the west side of the barn between 1838 and 1883; a yard on the south side of this new structure was built by 1903; at some point between 1945 and 1977 the yard was replaced by a steel framed barn.

Details

A late-C18 threshing barn with later stables and attached structures from the mid- and late-C19 and the second half of the C20.

MATERIALS

The barn is built of red brick and timber with a roof covered in corrugated metal sheets. The later extensions are built of brick and the C20 barn is steel framed.

PLAN

The threshing barn retains its threshing floor but has lost part of its porch. The later extensions have no formal plan.

EXTERIOR

The west elevation faces onto the farmyard and is four bays long. The northern two bays are built of brick with a high plinth laid in English bond while the upper wall is laid in monk bond. There are two narrow ventilation slits. A pair of large wooden doors lead to the threshing floor. At the right-hand-side the wall is weatherboarded. On the left-hand-side the wall abuts the larder attached to the farmhouse.

The north elevation of the barn extends beyond the larder of the farmhouse and is built of red brick laid in monk bond.

The east elevation of the barn has been extended outwards beyond the threshing porch to form a lean-to extension roofed in slate and walled in red brick; it includes an open-sided shelter or store.

Projecting east of barn is a stable or shelter constructed between 1838 and 1883. The walls are built of red brick laid in monk bond and the hipped roof is covered in glazed pantiles. There is a dentil eaves cornice. There are no windows on its north or east sides. It adjoins a large steel-framed barn clad with corrugated sheets. This post-1945 barn is open-sided to the south.

At the west end of the post-1945 steel-framed barn a corner is formed with the threshing barn, within which stands a small brick-built structure with a pantiled roof.

INTERIOR

The threshing barn retains a brick threshing floor, either side of which the floors have been covered in concrete. The original roof structure remains and is formed by common rafters with tie beams at each bay, butt purlins, and collars at each principal rafter.

The form of the threshing porch, part of which is separated from the barn by original weatherboarding, has been obscured by the creation of later extensions on the east side of the barn. These contain some surviving stall partitions and mangers indicating their use as stables, though other areas are more open and may have been cattle shelters or other stores. The large C20 barn contains no internal fixtures.

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.

End of official list entry