Coldmartin

Goldmartin is a house that was once a village workhouse, dating from the mid or possibly early 16th century. It features a three-bay open hall on the left and a storeyed bay on the right, with a lower extension from the 17th century at the far right. The building has two storeys and is constructed from timber framing with plaster. The roof is made of concrete tiles, hipped and gabled to the left. There is an axial chimney made of red brick from the 17th or 18th century. The windows are 19th and 20th century casements, some of which have leaded lights. A lean-to entrance porch from the 20th century has a plaintiled roof, and the door is boarded and battened in a 17th-century style, although it may be a modern reproduction.

Inside, the open hall has heavy tension-stud braced walling and two plain open trusses, with no evidence of smoke blackening. The crownpost roof features square posts with slender two-way braces. The right-hand room contains unchamfered floor joists that are of medieval design. In the mid-17th century or later, an upper floor was added to all three bays of the open hall, and the right-hand block was also constructed during the 17th century, incorporating a clasped-purlin system into the earlier roof. A three-bay open hall is a rare architectural feature in Suffolk, typically associated with guildhalls, although it is noted that a guildhall once existed at another location in the village.