The Bury

The Bury is a house with a complex history, dating to the later 16th century. It is likely that the house was rebuilt around this time, as evidenced by records showing the relocation of the Manor Court Rolls from Bury to the church tower in 1585. An estate map from 1588 further confirms the house's presence at that date.

The house has a long, low timber frame with two cross wings. The south wing was rebuilt in the early 17th century as a two-storey structure with an attic, cellar, and a stair tower formerly set in the angle. The interior was remodelled in the early 19th century. In the same century, a flat-roofed corridor and entrance addition was built on the east side, a single-storey dining room added at the rear of the north wing, connecting to a former granary, and the ground floor of the house was cased in red brick with plaster pargeting on the upper floor.

The roofs are gabled and covered in old red tiles, with a half-hipped roof over the granary. A central chimney sits in the middle of the main house, and an inserted floor includes chamfered and stopped spine beams dating to the early 17th century. However, a cambered tie beam from the open truss of the original hall survives in a bedroom to the north of the chimney, supported by heavy jowled posts. A bressummer on the north side of the south wing, visible internally, indicates that this wing was originally close studded. The south wing includes an early 19th-century central staircase and contemporary fire surrounds around external gable chimneys. Early 18th-century two-panel doors lead to the attics, lit by casement windows in the two gables on the south side. A cellar lies beneath the east half of the south wing. Small-paned wooden casements are used throughout the house.

The late 17th or early 18th-century timber-framed and plastered granary is now a high room with a loft over, supported by two deeply chamfered crossbeams. It has a two-bay clasped purlin roof structure with a tie beam cut and set higher. The modern dining room on the east side features an elaborate carved wooden fire surround, dado, and a 17th-century small-panelled door with cockspur hinges, all said to be from Albury Hall, which has since been demolished. Late 18th and early 19th century six-panel moulded doors are present throughout the house. An interesting carved oak fluted fire surround is located on the south side of the central chimney. The Bury served as the administrative centre for the Bishop of Ely’s manor of Little Hadham, which was passed to the Cecil family between 1601 and 1602.