Barn Cottages
In 1947, ‘St Osyth‘ writing in The Stowmarket Notebook wrote ‘ the appearance of Barn Cottages at the top of the hill, agrees with their name. One end is very barn like, with lattice door weather boarding.’ The cottages were converted from a barn on the Stowupland Hall estate.
Over the years this building has not only been converted into housing but also the number of units has been changed. The original listing was for 3 cottages.
1-3 Barn Cottages are listed building and described in the list as –
Originally a barn serving the adjacent farmhouse probably of late C16 or C17. Extended to left and converted to a terrace of cottages in mid C19. Restored c.1970 when some of the cottages were amalgamated. Timber-framed and plastered. Formerly thatched.
Neil Langridge has shared these entries from Charles Rayner Freeman ‘s diaries which detail some of the work done to convert a former barn to a habitable space in the early-nineteenth century.
He bought from G. Bayley & Co. of St. Peters Shipyard Ipswich on 18 Nov 1826 “4 oak knees – 19 ft at 3/6 (a foot) £3.6.6” a knee is a natural or cut, curved piece of wood. Knees, sometimes called ships knees, are a common form of bracing in boat building. Several members of the Bayley family had ship building businesses in Ipswich. (NB Neil has examined some of the timbers in the end cottage and noticed their resemblance to ‘ships knees’.)
30 Jan 1827 Began filling up old ditch in orchard further barn.
24 April 1827 Repairing cottage at further barn
10 July, 1827 Began repairing further barn
19 July, Finished studding up end of further barn
26 Nov. [paid] Charles Frances bricklayer Stowmarket for 96 1/4 days work further barn
15 Dec. [paid] Mr Garnett for barn floors
31 Dec. Began laying iron barn floor in further barn
1828
14 Jan. Laying barn floor to porch of further barn
15 Jan. Finished barn floor except side pieces to —-[?] Mr. Hobson stonemason laid it down
16 Jan. Threshing beans on new floor further barn
22 Jan. Finished laying iron barn floor Further Barn
25 April, Mr. Garnett bill for the remainder of cast iron floor laid down to Further Bar
From the 1840 Tithe Apportionments, plot 308 is a Barn & yard owned and occupied by Charles Rayner Freeman. According to Ena Carter this Barn by 1964 had been divided into 6 cottages. In 1900 a wash house had been added behind the cottages.
From the 1871 census we know James Kerry, a thatcher was living in one of the cottages
Detail from an 1881 map from which it can be seen how Barn Cottages and adjacent Church Walk Cottages are divided. Barn Cottages are set back from the road with a pond along the road edge. Further along the road, end on the carriage way is the thatched cottage that had been occupied by the school head master, William Stephen Prentice (by 1881 he and his family have moved into the school house)).
Neil (20/12/2019) adds the cottages are named as Barn Cottages nos 1 to 5 in 1881 and although not named in the 1871 census they seem to be there in 1871 and some of the same names seem to be living there as in 1881. However in 1861 it seems to have been still a barn.
From the 1881 Census we have the names of 5 families living in Barn Cottages
James (44) and Ann (40) Kerry, Horace (15), Jane (13), Frederick (11), Harry (8) and Edith (2). James and Horace are both thatchers, Frederick and Harry were both at school.
Rachel Diaper ( 34) is a widow and head of the household, she has 4 children. Mary (11), Alfred (8), Mary ( 7) and Frederick (3). The older children are all scholars.
John (33) and Emma(41) Fairweather with a son William A Horrex (22). John is an agricultural labourer.
Jane (35) Robinson is head of the household, she is a widow with 2 children William (5) and Ellen (3). William is a scholar.
Robert (30) and Mary A (23) Wilden with their one year old daughter Alice M . Robert’s occupation is given as a maltsters labourer.
In 1891 Police Constable George Salter & his family are in the cottages and his home is Stowupland Police House.
At the start of the 20th century the Horrex family were living in one of the Barn Cottages.
They lost 2 sons in World war 1. Bertie and John William were both killed in 1916. Then in 1936 Edward Albert Horrex, the youngest son of Alice and Arthur Horrex, at age 37 committed suicide with a shotgun at Layham, Lotts Farm. He had previously worked at The Elms, The Firs & other places.
In an unpublished manuscript the Rev Brame tells us what he remembered about Barn Cottages as they were during the 1920s and 30s. He describes the block of cottages as being part of the hamlet of Church Walk.
‘Moving on to the last block, we find the wall continued, down the side of the wide cartway, and along the public footpath till we come to a pond, which collected water from two ditches and stood stagnant until the cottagers used it up to water the gardens in dry seasons. This block of six dwellings was set further back than the three and was covered by a long thatched roof with one brick chimney for each house, and had weatherboard sides preserved with brown creosote. The windows were casement style, with small leaded panes, giving the cottages a quaint look. They were called the “Barn Cottages” an dit was easy to see why. The building was originally a very large barn which had been adapted to make six cottages. The builders had squeezed in an upper storey for bedrooms, all of which had sloping ceilings, making it difficult for adults to stand upright near the windows. Certainly ‘quaint’ would have better described the barn Cottages then ‘comfortable’.
He went on to recall the water pump that stood in front of the first Barn Cottage, ‘the visible structure was a square wooden box about 8 foot high in an enclosure of palings. It ‘had a mechanism for drawing water up from a well fed by a spring over forty feet under ground. A long steel arm pivoted near the top of the box reached out almost to the fence, and had to activate a system of levers to provide the up and down movemnt of the piston which lifted the forty- plus feet of water and operated a valve and poured it into a bucket through a spout ditted with a hook. Even for an adult pumping the water was hard work’ twenty times for a bucket of water, but as a child it was one of Leslie’s jobs to fetch the families drinking water, 2 buckets up to 4 trips a day.
In the 1920s Mr Tom Dewing, a senior teacher at Stowupland Elementary School was living in one of the Barn Cottages, he was one of the first to introduce the wireless to the village.
Barn Cottage was Listed as Grade II under .The Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 which instigated a listing of Buildings of Architectural Interest. The listing tells us that a 16/17 C barn converted in 18/19 C into 2 cottages, two storeys, Timber framed, plastered, thatched…An effective group premises occupied by Mr Shave, Mr Ellis and Mr Brame (From Ena Carter’s Notes
From 2004 – Updating of Grade II listing information
Nos. 1-3 Barn Cottages 09/12/55 and Foxglove Barn (formerly listed as Barn Cottages)
Four dwellings. Originally a barn serving the adjacent farmhouse (see previous item), probably of late C16 or C17. Extended to left and converted to a terrace of cottages in mid C19. Restored c.1970 when some of the cottages were amalgamated. 2 storeys. 8 windows. Timber-framed and plastered. Pantiled roof, formerly thatched. 4 axial C19 chimneys of red brick. C19 small-pane sashes; about half renewed without architraves c.1970.
Cottages Nos. 1-3 have late C20 half-glazed doors and Foxglove Barn a panelled door. Interior not examined
Some images and sales particulars for Barn Cottages from the 1970s and 80s.
