Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1136: summary

Historic building recording at Nagg’s Farm, Old Road, Wickham St Paul, Braintree CO9 2PU: June 2017
by Mark Baister

Date report completed: July 2017
Location: Nagg’s Farm, Old Road, Wickham St Paul, Braintree CO9 2PU
Map reference(s): TL 83777 36500
File size: kb
Project type: Historic Building Recording
Significance of the results:
Keywords:

Summary. A programme of historic building recording was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust at Nagg’s Farm, Old Road, Wickham St Paul, Braintree in June 2017. Although documentary evidence shows the farmstead dates back to at least the 17th century, the two remaining buildings on site, a small three-bay threshing barn and a brick outbuilding, were both constructed in the 19th century.

The threshing barn’s midstrey has been rebuilt and is considerably smaller than it would have been originally. After this rebuilding the barn was used as an animal shelter. The brick outbuilding is built up against the old garden wall of the (now demolished) farmhouse, and may also have been used to shelter animals. It was extended at some point in the early 20th century.

The barn was raised in a time period when mechanisation of agriculture was becoming commonplace and the need for new traditional threshing barns was dwindling. This suggests that at Wickham St Paul, mechanisation was slow to take hold, and a continued supply of cheap farm labour meant that traditional methods of farming continued well into the ‘High Farming’ period of British agriculture.