Tudor Shops

This is a remarkable timber-framed and plastered building dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, located in Lavenham. It was carefully restored at an unspecified later date. The building, originally comprising numbers 10 and 11 Lady Street (known as Tudor Shops), features exposed timber framing on its west front and a tiled, hipped roof to the south. It is two storeys high. The upper storey is jettied over the entire front, supported on exposed joists and an embattled bressumer, which is itself held up by 14 curved brackets with finely moulded capitals and shafts. The original ground floor shop front at the south end contains three four-centred arched openings, with the two outer openings blocked. A further original doorway features carved spandrels. The upper storey has a four-window range of leaded casements, and there are two windows on the ground floor. A former external staircase, originally at the north end, has since been enclosed. The south front, facing Water Street (number 6), is plastered and has a two-window range of small casements. The upper storey in this section features 18th-century leaded casements.