55-63, HIGH STREET

This building, located at 55-63 High Street in Southwold, is a row of five or six houses that have been converted into five shops with flats above. Originally built in the late 16th century, it was later encased in red brick during the late 17th century, with the left gable being rebuilt in the early 18th century. The rear of the building has 18th, 19th, and 20th-century extensions, and it was converted to its current use around 1910. The structure features a timber frame encased in colourwashed brick, topped with a plain tile roof that has three brick stacks—two on the ridge and one at the right end.

The exterior consists of two storeys and a dormer attic, with an eight-window front. The late 17th-century façade includes pilaster strips divided by a first-floor platband that forms recessed panels for the windows, with some evidence of original panelling still visible. The ground floor showcases five early to mid-20th-century plate glass shop fronts and doors. The upper floor is illuminated by seven 8/8 unhorned sash windows and one 6/6 unhorned sash window, complemented by a brick dentilled eaves cornice. There are two raking dormers featuring 2-light casements, and the right gable end is stepped and now incorporated into an adjoining property.

Inside, the building retains a 16th-century range that is one room deep, with a timber frame that includes jowled principal studs and cruciform chamfered bridging beams. The roof structure consists of principals, two tiers of butt purlins, and curved windbraces, although most windbraces are missing. The ground floors have been altered, but Nos. 55-57 feature a re-used early 16th-century spine beam in the front, adorned with multiple roll mouldings that die into a run-out stop. An inscription from Tyndale's 1525 Bible is visible: "But when thou prayest entere in (to thy) Chamber and shut thy doore to the(e) and praye to the father which is in secrete and thy Father which seyth in secret shall (reward thee openly)." On the first floor, No. 61 has an open fireplace beneath a shallow 4-centred bressummer, and a winder staircase leading to the attic is still present.