Sycamores

Sycamores is a house located on the east side of Debenham High Street. The building features a front dating from the 18th century, while the rear incorporates elements from the 16th and early 17th centuries. There have been alterations and additions made in the 19th century. The structure is timber framed with a pebbledash-rendered facade and has a paired mutule eaves cornice. The roof is slated at the front and plaintiled at the rear, with the rear wings being roughcast-rendered and plaintiled. The house is two storeys tall with a symmetrical three-bay facade, featuring sash windows with glazing bars. The Doric doorway is adorned with fluted pilasters and an entablature that includes triglyphs and a mutule cornice, leading to a six-panel raised and fielded door with an oblong overlight. There are small 19th-century additions set back to the left.

Inside, the front block contains a well stair with stick balusters, a wreathed mahogany handrail, and shaped tread-ends. The former Buck inn range at the rear has 16th-century ground floor ceiling beams with wide chamfers. The grandstand, which dates from the early 17th century, originally had three bays, though the west bay has been lost. The upper floor of the grandstand was open-sided, featuring a handrail at mid-height, with turned balusters to the south and east (the latter being incomplete) and plain balustrading to the north. The main posts to the south are ovolo-moulded, and there is evidence of an axial partition on both floors. The ground floor may have also been open, but this and the original roof have been lost. This grandstand is a very rare and possibly unique survival associated with innyard entertainment, which is why it holds special significance. It was referred to as 'the gallery' in the early 18th century. For drawings and photographs, see Mr. T. Easton, Bedfield Hall.