Long Barn With Fold Yards And Cartshed/Granary With Other Outbuildings At Wingfield Castle Farm

Long Barn with Fold Yards and Cartshed/Granary with Other Outbuildings at Wingfield Castle Farm

This is a complex of farm buildings dating from around 1550 and the later 19th century, constructed in red brick and timber-frame with weatherboarding and pantile roofs. The buildings stand at Wingfield Castle Farm and form part of a significant early Tudor estate complex.

The main structure is a long barn of 11 bays with three fold yards and ancillary buildings projecting southwards, plus a further outbuilding at the east end. The mid-16th century barn shows evidence of later 19th-century alteration: the ground floor was underbuilt in brick at this time and the main posts were probably cut, but the first floor retains its original close-studded timber-frame with mid rail, jowled posts, wall plates and tie beams. Curved and cranked wind bracing survives in places. The end bays are floored and were originally probably used for stabling on the ground floor. Most of the main frame comprises chamfered timbers with ogee stops, very similar in quality and detail to the framing in the residential range of the adjacent Wingfield Castle, which was built shortly after 1544. The roof is a later 19th-century renewal, as are the remaining buildings.

South of the fold yards stands a three-bay cartshed with granary above, and a further single-storey outbuilding is attached to its east side.

The barn is almost certainly contemporary with the Tudor residential part of Wingfield Castle, built by Sir Henry Jerningham shortly after he was granted the castle in 1544. Its unusual length suggests it was the principal estate farm barn, and the high quality of its framing reflects this importance. The survival of the entire first floor with its fine framing is particularly significant.

The group of 16th and 19th-century farm buildings has special interest both architecturally and historically. The barn compares in size with examples at Framsden Hall (12 bays), Winston Hall Farm and Roydon Hall (10 bays). The comparable barn at nearby Wingfield College is dated to around 1527. The group maintains a close visual and spatial relationship with Wingfield Castle, standing to the east of what would have been the base court, away from the castle's residential ranges in the south-west corner.

These buildings are part of the estate complex resuscitated by the Jerninghams after they took over following the fall of the de la Pole family, Earls of Suffolk, who built the castle in the late 14th century. Suffolk moated manors and their farmsteads are of considerable national importance, and the early Tudor period saw expansion in crop volumes that prompted the construction of large barns such as this example. The provision of flooring in part of the barn for stabling below adds further interest to its design and use.