Barns At Rodbridge House

Barns at Rodbridge House, Long Melford

Two adjoining barns form part of the steading at Rodbridge House. The earlier barn dates to the late 17th or early 18th century, while the later barn was constructed in the early 19th century. Together they demonstrate the development of agricultural building practices over two centuries.

The late-17th/early-18th-century barn is a timber-framed structure built on a red brick and flint plinth. It has weatherboard cladding to the north, east and west elevations. The steeply-pitched roof is covered with corrugated metal, which overlies a relict tiled covering visible on the front pitch. The barn follows a double-aisled plan with a midstrey positioned to the west.

The exterior features a full-height, off-centre midstrey at the west elevation with a pent roof. The original cart entrance at the north end has been blocked in, and a double-door vehicular entrance was later inserted into the north gable end. The east (rear) elevation retains a double door opposite the midstrey, and a smaller pedestrian door to the left.

The interior preserves much of the original timber frame. The pegged and jointed timber work includes arcade posts (some jowled), arcade plates and tie beams, with straight bracing between the tie beams and posts. The aisle plates and ties survive across all bays; some ties are strapped to the arcade posts and rest on low brick walls. The wall studs remain substantially intact, as does the roof structure, which comprises common coupled rafters, clasped purlins and pegged collars.

The adjoining early-19th-century barn is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with a slated shallow-pitched gable roof. It is considerably lower in height than the aisled barn. The rectangular plan contains two full-height projecting midstreys to the west elevation, each beneath gables with parapets terminating in single merlons on corbelled brackets. Similar treatment appears on the south elevation, with dentil cornices to the eaves. The double-door to the northernmost midstrey is probably a later insertion beneath a cranked relieving arch, while the smaller door in the southern midstrey belongs to the original phase. The rear elevation, partly obscured by 20th-century shelter sheds, contains two entrances.

The interior is divided into two equal parts by a brick and stud wall with a connecting door. A hay-loft has been inserted in the left-hand section, where part of the original brick threshing floor remains. The softwood roof structure comprises a ridge piece and rafters with collars, raking shores and internal plank cladding.

A late-19th-century central brick and weatherboard shelter shed, altered in the 20th century, projects to the west at the junction of the two barns. The remaining yard walls and 20th-century shelter sheds at the rear are not of special interest.

Historical Context

Rodbridge House, a former farmhouse with 14th-century origins, was listed at Grade II in 1978. An estate map of Melford Hall dated 1613 depicts the steading with two detached outbuildings on the site of the present barns. The timber-framed barn was constructed in the late 17th or early 18th century; it was probably originally at least one bay longer and may have had a thatched roof covering.

From the late 18th century until the 1920s, Rodbridge farm was owned by the Jennings family. William Jennings Esq. is believed to have extended the farmhouse and built the adjoining brick barn around 1820, employing similar architectural styling for both structures.