NHER 11620 (Building record) - Holly Farm

October 1976.
The barn on east of this group of buildings has a south wall (gable) of flint and brick with three pairs of blocked windows with a chimney between them (visible only from inside) and marks for two floors; apparently 17th century domestic.
Other gable wall is modern brick, west side is open, but east wall is wattle and daub between wooden posts, apparently 16th century. As roof timbers (tie beams on arched brackets) are old and obviously reused from the marks on them, posts in east wall may well be also.
Small outbuilding south of barn has an interior dividing wall; this was formerly the exterior wall of a Tudor stone building and has a corbelled chimney base. On other side (former interior) is a fireplace with beaded stone surround. Part of a small mill stone built into a more recent wall in this shed.
The farmhouse (west of group) is recent but in garden is a 'monument' built of carved stone fragments, which also lie all
around the farmyard. They are said to come from Wendling Abbey, but some could also come from the Tudor building mentioned.
E.Rose (NAU) 7 October 1976.

May 1985. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description:
Former house now barn. C17. Timber frame with south gable-end of flint with brick and re-used ashlar dressings. North gable-end in modern brick. Pantile roof. 6 blocked brick-dressed windows to south. Chamfered brick plinth and ashlar quoins. Former chimney flue to inside face. 3-bay timber frame with original arch braced ties and modern rafters. Only principal posts remain of west gutter wall with a weather boarded section just beneath eaves.
Information from (S1).
H. Mellor (HES), 23 June 2017.

(S1) dates barn as all 17th century, both gable and timber work - says arched brackets not reused, but agrees former house. Outbuilding not listed.
Delisted 1995 after blown down in a gale.
E. Rose (NLA) 24 April 1995.

August 2005.
Despite the delisting the gable wall with windows and chimneys described above still stands, now at the end of a new metal Dutch barn. The outbuilding with the fireplace appears to be intact but was only seen from a distance. To the south east of these buildings there is a three sided court of single storey sheds. Most of this is of 18th/19th century brickwork but the south east corner is an earlier building (probably not pre 18th century) which has been incorporated; this is of brick, flint and reused medieval stonework which does not occur in the later sections.
E. Rose (NLA) 29 August 2005.

The outbuilding south of the barn is potentially the location of two possible bee boles at 'Holly Farm, Dereham' recorded on the 'Bee Bole Register' (S2). These are within an alcove with angled sides and a surround of dressed stone that looks and sounds very much like the fireplace described above. A cental brick divide is presumably a later addition. It is noted that if indeed used to house skeps (the straw hives used prior to the advent of the modern wooden hive) it would have probably been subdivided by shelves.
P. Watkins (HES), 20 May 2025.