NHER 31003 (Monument record) - Sussex Farm

Shell of a round house survives in what was once an important Blyth estate farm set between Holkham and Houghton estates.
Barn unremarkable and other buildings mostly demolished.
See (S1).
E. Rose (NLA) 13 January 1995.

Visited by E. Rose, NLA, 13 January 2000.
Restoration has taken place since (S1) was written.
The barn is built of brick with diagonal skintlings, before about 1780, and a roll moulded plinth on the former exterior, now most likely within later outshuts.
It is very long with central cart doors and in at least, two storeys of window shaped ventilators.
In the south wall is a feature like a blocked fireplace but with no trace of a flue and no disturbance on the external face. The roof is 19th century with a windvane dated 1814 and 1874.
The animal engine house is half polygonal in 18th century materials but within is a semi-circular wall of 19th century brick, merging with the east wall, apparently once only 2m high but later raised; the original good quality roof remains between the two walls but has been replaced at centre after a fire.
Off centre to the structure is a brick well about 39m deep, in which a Lister diesel engine and earlier pump were found, now displayed on site.
The owners say that the farm was called Bethlem Farm but had its name changed after the Duke of Sussex stayed there and compared it to his Home Farm (but it is called Sussex Farm on (S2)) and that there was a 'thatched Elizabethan manor house' to the north, this point must be treated with caution until verified.
E. Rose (NLA) 17 January 2000.

Source [1] suggests the dates on the vane are those of Henry Blyth, son of the first owner, and confirms the story of the name change.
E. Rose (NLA) 20 January 2000.