Little Bradley is one of the smallest places we cover. Around 60 people live in the parish, in the Stour valley north of Haverhill, and Suffolk’s parish history describes it as a very small settlement with no recognisable centre: a church, a handful of houses and a few scattered farms. In 1981 the parish counted 21 inhabited houses. The name, shared with Great Bradley next door, means the wide clearing, and the two were recorded together in the Domesday Book.
All Saints and its round tower
The church of All Saints is the reason most visitors stop. The round lower stage of its tower is mid to late 11th century, making it one of 38 round-tower churches in Suffolk, and the upper part was rebuilt with a polygonal top in the mid 15th century. The walls are flint rubble with stone dressings under red tiled roofs. In the chancel is a brass to John Daye, the Elizabethan printer, who died in 1584. The church is listed Grade I.
Farmhouses in timber and plaster
Malting Farmhouse, listed Grade II, is a 17th century timber-framed and plastered house with a tiled roof, hipped at the south-west end, and a jettied upper storey on brackets at the back. The front has horizontal sliding sashes with glazing bars and a gabled porch, and the house sits well back from the road. At Little Bradley Hall, by contrast, the historic farm buildings have all been replaced with modern ones. Soils across the parish are mixed, from slowly permeable clay to well-drained, locally flinty loam, so ground conditions vary from one plot to the next.
Who to ask, and how we help
Little Bradley is in Suffolk, and West Suffolk Council is the planning authority. With a listed house, consent may be needed for alterations inside as well as out, so an early conversation with the council saves trouble later.
For homes like these, A&F Building Services can carry out carpentry repairs and new joinery, general maintenance, or a sympathetic refurbishment. We have been building since 1993 and manage the different trades ourselves. Our closest finished projects are in Newmarket, including a dormer bedroom refurbishment with made-to-measure shutters and panelling.
