(also known as The Place)
Parish: WENHAM MAGNA (or Great Wenham)
District Council: BABERGH
TM 071 377
Not open to the public
South of Wenham Magna village (in Latin ‘Magna’ means great or large so the village is also known as Great Wenham) on the edge of the Suffolk clayland plateau, Wenham Place (Grade II*) lies beside a tributary stream flowing south-east into the River Stour c. 13km (8mls) south-west of Ipswich and west of Capel St Mary. The L-shaped red brick house dates from the early-sixteenth century with the west return dating to the nineteenth century. Named on Hodskinson’s 1783 map and therefore signifying a house of some status, it is believed it was once much larger, having lost a south-west wing by the eighteenth century. Since at least the nineteenth century it has been a farmhouse.
In 1812 Thomas Ansell was born in Wenham Magna. He was the son of Joseph Ansell (1774–1855), who is named on the 1843 tithe apportionment as the landowner and resident of Wenham Place. Described as a farmer of 61ha (150a) and maltster, during Joseph’s time at Wenham the roof of the house was badly damaged in agricultural riots, which perhaps gave an opportunity to add the additional west range. After Joseph’s death in 1855 and by the time of the 1871 census it was the home of John Lott and his family, the holding now extending to 137ha (340a). It is said that the house was once owned by Willy Lott (1761–1849), whose cottage in Flatford was made famous in the painting by John Constable. Flatford, which is not far south of Wenham Magna, is where Willy is recorded as living throughout his life, first as a tenant and then after 1825 as the owner of the cottage. This was the period the Ansell family were in residence at Wenham Place. With no known further evidence, it seems likely the Ansells were originally tenants of Willy Lott, subsequently buying the property after Willy’s death in 1849, the same year the tithe apportionment records Joseph as the owner.
The Lott family appear again after Joseph’s death in 1855. John Lott (1822–1901) had married Sarah Green and they are said to have been tenants of the Ansell family, who were Sarah’s mother’s family, having moved from a farm in Little Clacton, Essex to Wenham Place in 1863. At the time of the 1881 census John Lott is a farmer and maltster with 222.5ha (550a). After the death of Robert Ansell the farm was for sale in 1882, although it is unclear who was the buyer. However, John and Sarah continued to live at the farm and after their deaths in 1900 and 1901, their daughter Agnes stayed on, although a farm manager was also resident. Soon after John Lott’s son, John Green Lott returned to his family’s farm. Sales particulars dated 13 July 1920 record that Wenham Place Farm was owned at that time by C. C. Eley. It continues to be a base for a working farm today.
When owned by Joseph Ansell, Wenham Place is shown on the 1843 tithe map as a large farmstead at right-angles to the road with a courtyard to the south created by surrounding farm buildings and the southern entrance front of the house with a number of further enclosures to the north and west. This southern courtyard is shown on the 1904 OS map but had gone by 1927 after the farm buildings were demolished. Dating back to the earlier, larger house, a sixteenth century rectangular walled garden (Grade II) is attached to the rear (north) of Wenham Place. At c. 3m (10ft) high, it was repaired during the nineteenth century when a gabled summer house was added. It has gateways to the north and west walls with two alcoves for beekeeping called bee boles in the north wall. A surviving freestanding barn within an orchard is shown on the tithe map south of the house that today stands in an area of grass forming part of the gardens. The main nineteenth century farmyard courtyard lies west of the house that once included a malting facility and large pond which are named on the tithe apportionment. Additional farm buildings were added in the second half of the nineteenth century, although many have been replaced by twentieth century agricultural buildings.
SOURCES:
Kelly’s Directory of Suffolk, 1929.
Lott, Harry Chickall, MC, The Colourful Life of an Engineer: Volume 1. (Publication before Harry’s death in 1975. He was the son of John Green Lott.)
Pevsner, N., The Buildings of England: Suffolk, 1974.
White, William, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk, 1844.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford/features/willy-lotts-house-at-flatford (accessed January 2022).
https://www.wilkinsonransomefamilytree.co.uk/fam5291.html (accessed January 2022).
Suffolk Landscape Character Assessment https://suffolklandscape.org.uk/landscapes/rolling-valley-farmlands-furze/ (accessed November 2020).
Census: 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1901, 1911.
Hodskinson’s Map of Suffolk in 1783.
1843 (surveyed 1843) tithe map and apportionment.
1886 (surveyed 1881 to 1884) Ordnance Survey map.
1904 (revised 1902) OS map.
1927 (revised 1924) OS map.
2022 Google aerial map (Imagery © Bluesky, CNES / Airbus, Getmapping plc, Infoterra Lts & Bluesky, Maxar Technologies, Map data © 2022).
Heritage Assets:
Wenham Place – Wenham Magna (Grade II*), Historic England No: 1351955.
Walled garden attached to north of Wenham Place (Grade II), Historic England No: 1285667.
Suffolk Record Office (now Suffolk Archives):
SRO (The Hold Ipswich) HE 402/1/1882/9. Wenham Place Farm Sales Particulars, 6 June 1882.
SRO (Ipswich) HE 402/1/1920/79. Wenham Place Farm Sales Particulars, 13 July 1920.
The National Archives, Kew:
PROB 11/2217/361 Will of Joseph Ansell, 1855.
Site ownership: Private
Study written: March 2023
Type of Study: Desktop
Written by: Tina Ranft
Amended:
