The Limes

The Limes is a house located on Ipswich Road in Stowmarket. It dates back to the 16th century, with a facade from the mid-18th century and early 19th-century additions on both the north and south sides. The building is timber-framed, plastered, and whitewashed, topped with plain tile roofs. The layout features a front range and older rear cross wings positioned at right angles.

The facade is two storeys high with a dormer attic, consisting of five bays. The central entrance has a six-panelled door with fielded panels beneath a Y-tracery fanlight, flanked by two 6/6 sash windows on either side and five sash windows on the first floor. The roofline is accented by a modillion eaves cornice below the bell-capped gabled roof, which features three gabled dormers with leaded two-light casements. There are external gable end stacks on both the north and south sides. Attached to these gables are single-storey brick extensions from the early 19th century, with a doorway under an arched head on the north side and an intersecting Gothick arched window on the south.

The rear wing has a south front with two two-light casements from the 20th century on the ground floor and two V-shaped projecting casements above. It has a gabled roof with a ridge stack and an outshut on the north side. The rear of the main front block features a staircase tower added around 1730, along with a privy tower.

Inside, the main front room includes a bolection-moulded fireplace decorated with Delft tiles. The closed string staircase in the tower, dating to around 1740, has turned balusters, a ramped handrail, and dado panelling. Many doors have HL hinges, and the panelling in the rear ground-floor room is from the 1920s. The rear wing contains heavy plain-chamfered bridging beams and 19th-century four-panel doors on the ground floor, while the first floor has 18th-century two-panel doors. The frame includes 17th-century principal studs and chamfered tie beams, with a blocked mullioned window on the first floor. The roof features two tiers of staggered butt purlins and collars, likely replaced around 1740. Although the front range is often reported to be from 1701-1702, no evidence has been found to support this claim.