31 And 32, Abbeygate Street

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SW ABBEYGATE STREET 639-1/14/139 (South side) 07/08/52 Nos.31 AND 32 (Formerly Listed as: ABBEYGATE STREET Nos.31, 32 AND 32A)

GV II*

2 shops with offices and storage above. C18 with earlier cellars; front thought to have been added in 1834. Timber-framed and roughcast; a hipped slate roof with paired modillions to the wide eaves cornice. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and cellars; on a corner site. 5 window range facing Abbeygate Street, small-paned sashes in flush cased frames, apart from 3 on the first storey which have no glazing bars. 2 window range on the Angel Hill frontage, also small-paned sashes in flush cased frames. The ground storey has a rich Greek Ionic colonnade with wooden unfluted columns; the spaces between are infilled with C20 plate glass shop windows. INTERIOR: the cellar of No.31 is deep and apparently medieval, lined with a mixture of flint rubble, old brick, and small stone blocks. Its ceiling is supported by a heavy chamfered main beam with lodged joists, some re-used. A low vaulted tunnel, partly lined with old brick and numerous old tiles, extends below Abbeygate Street. On the Angel Hill frontage the splayed reveals of a window, now blocked, but formerly at ground level. Documentary sources indicate that this cellar was used as a tavern up to the early C19; in 1833 the tenant, Thomas Bridgman, was also the landlord of the Angel Inn. The cellar of No.32 has the remains of a stone doorway leading into No.31. No exposed features of interest to rest of interior.

Listing NGR: TL8549064216