Bacon'S Barn

SOUTH ELMHAM, ST. MICHAEL ST. MICHAEL'S GREEN TM 38 SW

4/80 Bacon's Barn -

GV II

Former farmhouse. Part C15, part circa 1600. Timber-framed and rendered, with part of the outer walls replaced in colour-washed brick; thatched roof to part, half-hipped at the west end; the remainder with black glazed and clay pantiles. 1½ storeys to the older western half of the building, 2 storeys and attics to the remainder, the 2 halves linked by an internal chimney-stack with a plain shaft of small red Tudor bricks. 2 gabled dormers; C20 casements, and 3-light casements with a single bar to lights in the c,1600 part. On the garden front, part of the original hall window is reinstated, and one old casement window has diamond-leaded panes. C20 plank door abutting on the chimney stack. The western half of the house contains the remains of a 2-bay open hall with crown-post roof. The crown-post is octagonal with moulded cap, braced 4 ways at the head, but the base has been cut off, the supporting tie- beam removed, and a later queen-post structure inserted bellow, producing an attenuated secondary form of raised aisle truss. Some of the queen-post components are smoke-blackened and apparently reused. At the west end of the hall, the timber-framed partition has been replaced by a wall of Tudor brick, laid in English bond, and the bay beyond it is a late C17 reconstruction. The inserted ceiling in the hall is plain and heavy, with exposed main beam and joists. The added 2-bay parlour block on the east is very well timbered, with close studding and exposed ceilings on each floor; main beams with curved stops and bar; plain timber lintel to the hearth; remains of mullioned window openings. Roof with clasped side purlins, arched windbraces and intermediate collars between the trusses. It seems likely that the inserted stack was preceded by a smoke bay. This is the only house in the South Elmham parishes with the remains of a crown-post roof.

Listing NGR: TM3436083586