The Rising Sun Public House

The Rising Sun Public House is a house, later used as a public house, dating from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. It is located in Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds, and exhibits a complex form constructed of timber framing, predominantly rendered but with exposed timbers to the upper storey at the east end. The roof is covered in plain tiles.

The building comprises a central gabled and jettied wing set between two jettied ranges. To the left of the central gable is a taller range with a high carriage entrance on the ground floor, partially underbuilt, and featuring a fixed early 19th-century 16-pane window in a heavy wooden surround. The first floor of this range has a four-light casement window with a single glazing bar to each light, flanked by two smaller blocked two-light windows, each with a central mullion and vertical bars on each side. A blocked oriel window is located at the rear. A small gabled dormer with a plain two-light casement window is visible in the front roof slope. This range is linked to the central cross-wing by a large red brick chimney-stack with a sawtooth shaft on a rectangular base.

The central cross-wing showcases a 19th-century six-light ovolo-moulded mullion-and-transom window on the ground floor and an oriel-type five-light window, supported by small brackets and topped with a small slated pentice roof, on the first floor. The range to the right of the central gable is lower than the range on the left and has solid brackets supporting the moulded bressumer of the jetty. It includes a 19th-century six-light ovolo-moulded mullion-and-transom window on the ground floor and a door within a four-centred 16th-century surround, elaborately carved with a bird, possibly a phoenix, in each spandrel. The upper storey features two oriel windows with plastered bases, one with two lights and the other with three lights, both with single-bar casements. Two later blocked windows are positioned between the oriels. A small gabled dormer with a plain two-light casement window features in the front roof slope, and a blocked dormer with a single-pitch roof is present in the rear slope. A lower 17th-century extension projects from the rear of this cross-wing.

An inspection of the ground storey’s interior revealed a chimney-stack with cambered timber lintels, one a later insertion. A small, blocked ovolo-moulded mullion window, a 17th-century addition, is situated to the side of the current cross-wing window, with remains of a shutter-slide visible above it. The main ceiling beam of the cross-wing displays a double roll-moulding and run-off stops. The range to the right is framed in a single long bay, exhibiting a main beam with a roll and double ogee moulding, exposed joists with a double ogee mould and curved stops, which continue as a cornice around the room. A rear wall has been removed to facilitate an extension. Further exposed timbering is reported on the upper storey.