80 and 80A Fore Street including warehouses to rear (The Sale Room, The Crossway and warehouse to south fronting Wherry Quay)

This is a house with attached warehouses to the rear, dating from the early to mid 15th century. The house crosswing is dated 1636, and one warehouse was remodelled in the mid 16th century. Further warehouses were added around 1540 and in the late 17th century, with minor later alterations throughout.

Range 1 (Number 80 Fore Street)

The western half of the front range originally formed part of a row of late medieval houses extending east-west along the south side of Fore Street. It is timber-framed and plastered, with dendrochronology dating the timbers to AD 1418–1449. The building has two storeys and an attic, with a jettied upper storey. The roof is of crown post construction with diminutive braces to the collar purlin.

A carriage entrance at the east end is also 15th century but was later widened, probably in the 17th century when Range 2 was added. The ground storey features a large 19th-century sash window (originally fitted with external shutters) and a smaller window to the west. The first floor has two 19th-century mullion and transom windows. A section of 16th- or 17th-century plaster with decorative render in the naive style representing brickwork was recently uncovered on the rear wall above the carriage entrance. This was conserved and recorded before being covered over.

Range 2 (Number 80A Fore Street)

This is a timber-framed and plastered crosswing forming the east half of the front range, dated 1636 and confirmed by dendrochronology. It has two storeys with attics and a cellar at the front. The street-fronting elevation is double jettied with a projecting gable above the first storey. Both the first storey and gable have carved bressumers, and the gable is supported by carved brackets. The first storey of the crosswing has exposed timber-framing. The gable bressumer bears the date 1636, and the first storey bressumer displays the monogram H above W.F.

The upper storey features an oriel window with a carved frame and carved supporting brackets in the same style as those of the Neptune Inn at Number 86. Small high-level flanking frames contain leaded lights. The ground storey has two double-hung sashes with glazing bars and unusual sash weights. The oriel window at first floor has a six-light, double-hung sash with glazing bars. The attic is fitted with a 20th-century casement. The ground storey is faced in painted brick.

A wing extends south at the rear of the crosswing, rising two storeys with attics. Two large gables project slightly on the front with exposed timber framing on the first storey. The attics are lit by casement windows in the gables. The first storey has two six-light casement windows (originally two large windows with flanking high-level windows), and the ground storey has one paired double-hung sash window with glazing bars and one 21st-century timber casement. The ground storey is painted brick and plaster. The east elevation features two tall stacks and a small gabled dormer.

Interior features include 18th-century panelling reused from elsewhere on the rear wing first floor, and a prismatic light set into the underside of the stair from first floor to attic.

Range 3 (The Sale Room)

This is a two-storeyed warehouse wing extending south of Range 2, with exposed timber-framing on the first storey and painted brick on the ground storey. The roof is tiled. Ground storey brick walls are laid to English bond. The west (courtyard) elevation has two windows to the first storey (the present central window is a later insertion) and evidence for a former window opening at its extreme north end. Beams of the original first floor frame are exposed within the ground storey.

The roof is of crown post construction with a double set of collars and diminutive braces to the collar purlin, similar to those in Range 1. The wall plates have been dated by dendrochronology to around 1540. However, the range incorporates many reused or repositioned timbers, and there is evidence that the tie beams, wall posts, and much of the present roof structure may have originated in a former 15th-century range standing on or near the site of the present range, which was taken down and rebuilt following the construction of Range 4 to the south (the Crossway). The north end of the range abuts and has been truncated by the rear gable of Range 2. The east elevation is rendered to first floor, brick to ground floor, and has a weather-boarded gable end with blocked pigeon holes to Range 4.

Range 4 (The Crossway)

This is a three-storey timber-framed warehouse range dating from the mid 16th century and confirmed by dendrochronology to around 1540. It extends westwards from the south end of Range 3 (the Sale Room). The roof is tiled.

The north (front) elevation has exposed timber-framing with brick nogging infill at first and second storeys and brick on the ground storey, part painted and plastered. The range is six bays and three storeys. The central carriageway dates from the original construction but has been widened to the east, probably in the 17th century following the construction of Range 2 and the widening of the carriage entrance through the street-fronting range.

Originally, the first and second storeys were each lit by three windows on the north side arranged one above the other. The upper three windows were oriels with projecting frames supported on timber brackets. The lower windows were set flush with the wall and had diamond mullions with moulded timber sills externally and horizontally sliding shutters. Between the central and east pairs of windows at first and second floor was an exterior doorway, both now blocked, with a projecting porch at eaves level above the upper door opening.

Internally, the first and second storeys are divided into five bays by four intermediate cross frames. The attic floor has knee-braces. The roof is of clasped purlin construction with wind-braces and divided into six bays by five intermediate roof trusses.

At the east end, a late 16th-century staircase with original wooden partition screen leads from the first storey of Range 3 to the second storey of Range 4. Above this is an inserted 18th- or 19th-century pigeon loft. To the west of the staircase opening at second floor is a grain-processing machine dating from around 1840 and at one time gas-powered. To the west is Range 5, and to the south is Range 8.

Range 8

This is a late 17th- or 18th-century maltings range extending southwards from the east end of Range 4. It has two storeys and an attic. The lower storey is of brick, the upper storey timber-framed with brick nogging infill. Softwood timber-framing is used throughout. The first floor includes a number of perforated kiln tiles replacing stone pammets.

The ground and first storeys are divided into twelve bays by eleven transverse floor beams supported on timber wall posts. The floor construction was purpose-built to form a malting floor with wall plate and studwork approximately 15 inches (380 millimetres) above floor level to prevent soaking. The second (attic) floor level is boarded and is approximately 2 feet (600 millimetres) below wall plate level and includes upper (or hanging) and lower (or knee) braces to the floor beams. The roof is divided into twenty bays by nineteen principal rafter trusses. The roof is of staggered tenoned purlin construction and has straight collars. The range known as the kiln block, now Cobbolds on the Quay Public House, is attached to the west side of Range 8 at its southern end.

Historical Significance

This house and warehouses form the major part of an exceptional group of historic buildings. The group is the last surviving example of a 15th- to 17th-century Ipswich merchant's house with warehouses at the rear opening directly onto the dock front, where merchandise was unshipped, stored and distributed wholesale or sold retail in the shop on the street front. The group also includes Cobbolds on the Quay Public House, 1–7 Wherry Lane, and the warehouse attached to the west of the Crossway warehouse.