ABOUT THE FARM BUILDINGS
THE HOUSE
The farmhouse is a typical small Suffolk timber-framed house, which dates from the late 17th century, but there are re-used timbers inside from an earlier period. It has a steeply-pitched tin roof over the remnants of thatch. The first floor windows are horizontal sliding sashes; the ground floor windows have their original mullions but are missing the leaded lights. It has been altered little, except for an ugly flat-roofed extension built in the 1970s. There is no central heating. An old solid-fuel Rayburn does the hot water, and some of the cooking, and the main room is heated by means of a new wood-burning stove. According to a 19th century census, 24 people once lived here. We suspect that some of them lived in the outbuildings.
The flat-roofed extension has been demolished and a small extension added to each end. The tin roof will be replaced once again by thatch in long straw, which is the correct material for this area. The main contractor is John Bradshaw of Assington, with his brother Stan..
THE MILL
The Domesday Book mentions a mill at Assington, together with "wood for 30 pigs, 5 horses at hall, 23 cattle, 60 pigs, 90 sheep, 6 beehives, 12 goats". There is no other obvious site for a mill in the village, so we assume that it was here. The former watermill stopped working in 1868 when the squire "took the water for his own purposes", and the miller, Walter Pollard, was forced to acquire a second-hand windmill, which came from Sudbury. The story goes that it was brought here by the aid of 21 horses at night, and only the vicar was allowed to watch. Sadly, there is no machinery left and all the floors were removed some 30 years ago to make a grain store. But Mark Barnard of Suffolk County Council found a picture of the mill 50 years ago which showed a wheel and, since the wheel pit is there (which provides the dimensions), the intention is to replace it in due course.
The mill has a gambrel roof (see drawing above), with horizontal boarding inside where the grain bins once were. Outside, it is clad with featheredged weatherboarding.
THE MILL COTTAGE
This small building attached to the mill has clearly had a domestic use in the past, and we know that it was used as a guest annex just before the last war. It has lost part of its first floor, and the partition between it and the mill has been removed. The intention is to replace this partition, and we have permission to create a small flat, which will probably be used for holiday lets or accommodating people on the craft courses.
THE TRACTOR SHED
This used to be a WWII prefabricated hut, but was replaced in 2004 by a spacious and elegant building made out of straw bales and rendered with clay, both off the farm. It was built by about 20 people, including people from Italy, Germany and Eire, on a course which lasted seven days, under the supervision of Barbara Jones of Amazon Nails. Barbara advised the owner of the straw bale house on TV's Grand Designs. This will be the venue for the craft courses in future. It has a pantiled roof, large double doors at each end, two sunpipes (a tubular alternative to windows), a compost loo and a small tea point. The mix for the clay render was 4:1 clay:chalk, with chopped straw, water and a bucket of fresh cow manure, lovingly puddled by foot before being limewashed.
Many thanks to all those who helped with the construction.
