Upper Barn

Upper Barn is a threshing barn built in 1767, constructed of red brick in Flemish bond. It stands on Loudham Lane in Ufford, an isolated structure shown as such on the 1845 tithe map, belonging to Willow Farm which lies approximately 750 metres to the south.

The barn is a five-bay structure with full-height centrally placed opposing entrances. The western entrance is sheltered by a porch with a hipped roof. The exterior is plain brick. Square-shaped ventilation openings, now bricked up, are visible beneath the gables to both north and south. To the north of the west porch stands a small integral lean-to, accessible from inside the porch. A round-headed arched doorway on the south side of the porch remains, with ghost outlines of former rooflines visible in the brickwork, indicating that a lean-to once existed here. The entrance to the porch is now enclosed with modern weatherboarding containing a door and window. A modern open-sided structure is attached to the north gable end.

Internally, tall narrow ventilation slits flank the doors and are set into the gable ends, formed by removing vertical rows of headers and stretchers in a distinctive pattern. Some have been infilled on the outer skin only, others on both sides. The roof structure is substantially intact, comprising coupled rafters, staggered butt purlins, and collars. The wall plate contains face-halved and bladed scarf joints, most clearly visible where it straddles the porch opening. The round arches to either side of the porch are visible internally; the northern arch remains open to the small lean-to. An inscription on a brick inside the porch reads "BRICK BARN 1767", accompanied by tally marks consisting of four vertical strokes crossed through by a fifth.

The barn was built in brick—an unusual choice for Suffolk—reflecting the agricultural prosperity of the period. Historical records show it belonged to Willow Farm, a tenanted property owned by the trustees of the Thomas Mills Charity, founded in 1703. The charity was a substantial landowner in the area during the 18th and 19th centuries and funded the Grade II listed Almshouses on Station Road, Framlingham (1703) and the Grade II listed Unitarian Meeting House on Bridge Street, Framlingham (1717).

The 1845 tithe map shows the barn with an additional wing to the west; this wing remained on the 1882 and 1904 Ordnance Survey maps but has since been demolished. The yard configuration altered between 1882 and 1904. Subsequent changes include the blocking of openings in all four elevations and the removal of the lean-to to the south of the porch. The lean-to to the north remains, though its roof has been rebuilt at a lower pitch. The surrounding yard has been cleared.

The roof has been covered with corrugated asbestos, the eastern door replaced with corrugated iron, and a concrete floor laid. A 19th-century pantiled porch roof remains. The barn survives substantially intact, particularly in its roof structure, and the inscribed date of 1767 offers rare precision for a building of this type.