Broad End Farmhouse

STRADBROKE TM 27 SE

4/71 Broad End Farmhouse - (formerly listed as 29.7.55 Broadend Farmhouse)

-- II*

Farmhouse. In 2 sections: to left a hall range of second half of C14; to right a mid C16 parlour addition. Timber framed and plastered with pantiled roofs. 1½-storey hall range, 2-storey parlour addition. Windows mainly mid C20 small-paned casements; hall range has 2 gabled dormers. 2 mid C20 doors, one with open porch. At the junction of the 2 ranges, a stack with plain C16 shaft. The C14 range comprises an intact former open hall of raised-aisle form together with the adjacent service cell. The main bridging beam of the open truss is slightly cambered, with solid braces to the wall posts (one brace missing). It carries cross-quadrate queen-posts with thick, almost solid curved braces to the arcade plates and massive arched braces to the tie beam. There are side ties to the wall plates, each supported by a pair of braces which meet to form a 2-centred arch. The upper truss has an octagonal crown-post with moulded base and capital. Both service doorways survive, together with the front cross-entry doorway: all have 2-centred arches. There is evidence for the original hall windows. Service end altered, especially on ground floor. C16 inserted floor with plain or roughly chamfered joists. The stack was inserted into the upper end of the hall. The parlour addition is of high quality, with some heavy close studding. In the parlour, a moulded bridging beam with leaf-carved stops is carried on storey posts with carved corbels. The joists are also moulded. The ceiling of the parlour chamber is particularly fine, with an arched-braced, slighly cambered bridging beam and 3 axial beams each side, 2 of triangular section: all are moulded, as are the joists and wall plates.

Listing NGR: TM2626074357