Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 1369: summary

Historic building recording at Michaelstow Farm, Ramsey Road, Ramsey, Essex, CO12 5EW: November 2018
by Mark Baister

Date report completed: January 2019
Location: Michaelstow Farm, Ramsey Road, Ramsey, Essex, CO12 5EW
Map reference(s): TM 22176 30451
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 Michaelstow Farm, Ramsey Road, Ramsey, Essex in November 2018.

Cartographic evidence shows that Michaelstow Farm was constructed sometime between 1825 and 1840, as a substantial two-range farm complex, comprising multiple buildings and associated with the nearby manor of Michaelstow. Chiselled inscriptions on principal-posts in the threshing barn and cow house put the farm’s construction date as 1839. A total of seven buildings survive on the site today, five of which are original to the complex (a threshing barn, two lean-tos, a stable and a cow house - although some of these buildings may have been rebuilt on the same footprint). The remaining two buildings (an extension to the barn and a cart-lodge) date from the first half of the 20th century.

The threshing barn and the cow house are constructed using a significant amount of re-used timber, which must have originated from an earlier (possibly medieval) building, either on the site or from elsewhere in the manorial estate.