The lost farm and shop at the Redlingfield Cross

In 1753 the Ipswich Journal advertised an 18-acre farm for sale or to let, stating that the house went by the name of Redlingfield Cross.

The next record was in 1839 when the farm was listed in the Tithe Apportionment for Redlingfield. This was a document and map drawn up for every parish in England itemising every house and field in every village, so the correct amount of tithe could be paid to the Church of England. This shows the farm buildings to be on the small triangle where the village sign is now, and the farmhouse, which by this time had been split into two dwellings, as being the house that we now know as Hill Cottage. The land consisted of two fields behind the house and buildings and fields the other side of the brook behind the smithy. The buildings, house and land were recorded as belonging to Mr Edward Platfoot, who at the time was farming Hill Farm as a tenant of the Adair estate. It is likely the farm at The Cross had been purchased in 1753 by his grandfather, who had been a tenant of Hill Farm. The house was listed as a cottage and shop and the occupiers as Green and Cracknell. The land and farm buildings were occupied by Edward Platfoot

Three years later the 1841 census showed one half of the house was occupied by William Green and the other by George Cracknell (a carpenter) and his widowed cousin Elizabeth Rush (a grocer). By the time of the next census in 1851 both widowed cousins had remarried and were living in separate houses. Elizabeth had married Roger Taylor, who had been working for a grocer and draper in Mendlesham. The couple were now recorded as living and running the shop at The Cross and again in the 1861 census.

In 1862, Edward Platfoot died and his estate was sold up in 11 lots which included the farm at The Cross, Mount Pleasant, Kiln Farm and, what is now known as, Plumtree Farm on the Southolt Road [this could explain why this outlier is within Redlingfield’s boundaries].

Lot 1 was described as “A capital tiled Messuage [a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use] with grocery shop, large garden, double bay barn, bullock sheds etc. and two enclosures of arable and pasture land of the most fertile description, well studied with growing timber and other trees situated by the roadside at Redlingfield Cross containing 4 acres one rood, 22 poles”. The fields on the other side of the road were sold as Lot 2.

Roger and Elizabeth took the opportunity to buy the house and shop they had been occupying for many years and Lot 3, which was the small f arm now known as Mount Pleasant.

In the 1871, census Roger was described as a shopkeeper and farmer of 7 acres living at The Cross. In 1875, Roger Taylor died aged 87, followed by Elizabeth in 1877. His estate was sold in 9 lots on July 15th 1878 at the White Lion Inn in Eye.

The first 5 lots were in Redlingfield:

Lot 1. A messuage and grocery shop at The Cross.

Lot 2. A tiled messuage and wheelright’s shop adjoining Lot 1 (the house is now Tudor Rose, and Woodvale bungalow stands on the site of the wheelright’s shop)

Lot 3. A pair of cottages in the garden of Tudor Rose (demolished in the 1930s).

Lot 4. Mount Pleasant Farm.

Lot 5 a small field known as Nunns on the Denham Road.

The other lots were houses in Occold, Rishangles, Wetheringsett and Halesworth (quite a property portfolio for a Redlingfield shopkeeper).

The Cross and Mount Pleasant came up for sale again in 1880 and were purchased by William Mole, who was described as a dealer in the 1881 census and a farmer and grocer at Mount Pleasant in the 1891 and 1901 census.

Both farms came up for sale together in June 1906, just after the death of William’s wife and before his own death later that year. They were advertised as being suitable for dealers or poultry keepers. Both were purchased by Arthur Rayner of Grove Farm, Denham.

After his death in 1938 the farm at The Cross was purchased by Jonathan Howlet of Hill Farm, Redlingfield. In 1951, his sister Miss Hylda Howlett put the Cross Farm house up for sale as a pair of cottages called Hill Cottages. Then in 1953, just after the old school, which had formerly been used as the village meeting place, had been declared unfit for use, she gave the piece of land on which the demolished farm buildings had stood, to trustees who were to arrange for it to be used for the benefit of the village, possibly for a public hall.

That is the history of the farm and shop but what happened to the name The Cross? In 1839, the meadow between The Cross and Hill Farm was recorded as Cross Meadow and the field where The Knoll‘s houses now stand, was Cross Close. The names ‘At the Cross’ and ‘Near the Cross’ were used as addresses for houses in Horham Road in every census through to 1921. Then on the 1939 register one resident in half of what is now Hill Cottage, gave his address as ‘Near the Cross’ although the other just gave her address as Cottage. After 1939 the name seems to have completely vanished. What was the origin of the name “The Cross”? Was it the site of a medieval wayside cross like the one thought to have been at Syleham? That is a subject for research another day!

Stephen Ling (Athelington, Horham & Redlingfield News, Winter 2023-24, Issue no. 63).