Gable End The Gables

The Gables is a house, now divided into two dwellings, dating from the early to mid 16th century. It has undergone extensions and remodelling in the mid to late 17th century and the early 18th century, and was restored in 1973 by the Suffolk Buildings Preservation Trust. The house is timber-framed, with plaster and renewed panelled pargetting, and some red brick additions. It has steeply pitched plain tiled roofs, with pantiles to the rear.

Originally comprising three or more bays, the house was extended with a two-bay parlour cross wing to form a long, three-cell range with a lobby and cross entrances, a stair bay, and a short service wing to the rear. It is two storeys and attics, with a triple-gabled front.

The ground floor features steps leading up to two six-panelled doors, each with shaped brackets to moulded hoods. There are five flush moulded frame 16-pane sashes with hoodboards. The first floor has five flush moulded frame 3:6-pane sashes, with hoodboards above those under the three gables, which have cusped and finialed bargeboards of different sizes. A 17th-century axial ridge stack, rebuilt in brick, is located towards the right, between the hall and parlour.

The left gable end is of early 18th century Flemish bond red brick, with vitrified headers, a plat band, and moulded kneelers. The gable is shaped with a lower convex section and an upper concave section, with steps between, topped by a pedimental head and an internal end stack. A two-bay return to the right has two 20th-century casements. The rear gable end also has 20th-century casements. A lower stair bay behind the main stack has a shallower pitched gable. A rear range added in the 18th century has some exposed 16th-century close studding, with a break towards the service end. To the rear left is an 18th-century brick service bay, pantiled, with an extruded end stack with a rebuilt cap, and an inner segmental headed three-light casement.

The interior of the hall features an arched brace to a chamfered cross axial binding beam (one removed), a 16th-century window sill, straight arched braces in the close studding, and a 17th-century fireplace. The 17th-century parlour has through tension bracing in the frame, indented stop chamfered binding beams, and an early 18th-century cyma moulded cornice. The staircase has some reused early 18th-century turned balusters. The first floor hall chamber has posts of rebated section, a tie beam removed, edge halved scarf joints in wallplates, and a splayed scarf joint in the front plate where it meets the 17th-century build. A three-panelled door leads to the attic, which has a 17th-century clasped purlin roof in the cross wing. The Gables section of the property was not inspected.