Description

TM 15 SW
3/35

BAYLHAM
Hill Top Farmhouse

GV
II
House, formerly farmhouse. C15, with alterations of c.1621 (date carved on
building). A 3-cell open hall house with a queen-post roof: this type is
occasionally found in north-east Suffolk, but is very rare in medieval
domestic buildings elsewhere in the county. 1 storey and attics. Timber-
framed and plastered; a little C18 rope-pattern pargetting survives. Thatched
roof with gabled casement dormers; these have carved gable tie-beams, one with
"1621.H.H.:H.H.1621" This is the assumed date of the alterations described
below. Chimneys of red brick; the axial and north gable stacks are C17, the
south stack with ovens is of c.1800. Various small-pane casements, mainly
C19. One C17 ovolo-moulded mullioned window; another is complete but blocked.
Boarded entrance door with C20 gabled open porch on posts. The nucleus of the
house has a 2-bay open hall, heavily smoke-blackened, with widely-spaced arch-
braced studwork. Each closed truss has a pair of queen-posts supporting a
collar upon which large square-set purlins are lodged and supported by arch-
braces. The open truss has a cambered collar above jowled queen-posts; the
large arch-braces, the bottoms of the posts and the rest of the truss were
removed in C17. The roof is otherwise without collars and has a ridge-piece,
another rare feature, normally only found in N.E. Suffolk in this context. An
original service cell survives, with lodged upper floor. A further cell was
added to each end of the building with clasped purlin roofs, c.1621; also an
inserted floor in the hall with ovolo-moulded joists. The inserted chimney
backing against the cross-passage may be earlier. A chamber ceiling has C17
vine-scroll -plastering along the central beam. Formerly known as Harrow
Farmhouse.

Listing NGR: TM1008250571

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26284733

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)