Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 581: summary

Historic building record of barn and cart lodge at Sparrow Hall Farm, Sparrow Lane, Needham Green, Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex - October 2010
by Richard Shackle

Date report completed: February 2011
Location: Sparrow Hall Farm, Sparrow Lane, Needham Green, Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex
Map reference(s): TL 556 157
File size: 20,858 kb
Project type: Building record
Significance of the results:
Keywords: barn, agricultural buildings, farm

Summary. The farm complex round the yard consists of a listed farmhouse, a listed granary, a series of late 19th-century vernacular farm buildings and a 20th-century pole barn which is due to be demolished. The farmhouse is Grade 2* listed, and it is a late 16th-early 17thcentury lobby entrance farmhouse with later additions. Near the farmhouse is the listed granary. This has been almost totally rebuilt in a traditional style. The survey was undertaken on the large barn and the smaller building which is attached to it, both of which were built in the 19th century. The large rectangular barn is five bays long and is set at right-angles to the road. It was built to store grain crops. When originally built, the central bay had a door on each side, so loaded carts could be pulled in through one door, unloaded and the pulled out through the opposite door. The smaller building attached to the barn is built parallel to the road and is five bays long. The three bays nearest to the barn had a pair of double doors facing the farm yard. The original purpose of these three bays is unknown but could have been for more grain storage. The final two bays were a gig house and a stable. Attached to the granary is a two-bay building with a door facing the farm yard; this may have been a stable. North-west of the large barn is a fivebay range of buildings which may have been loose boxes for horses. The three bays to the west are one large room divided by open trusses. The next two bays were probably individual loose boxes, although the one to the west could have been a tack room. Attached to this range is a narrower range of four bays; these appear to have been cart lodges for four carts. Between this building and the granary is the pole barn. All the farm buildings except for the farmhouse, the granary and the pole barn are built in the same late 19th-century vernacular style. They are built of pine studs of small scantling with primary bracing, and tile roofs. All the walls, external and internal, are covered in weatherboarding.