Number 61 And Attached Railings

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8563NW WHITING STREET 639-1/15/718 (West side) 07/08/52 No.61 and attached railings (Formerly Listed as: WHITING STREET (West side) Nos.61, 62 AND 63)

GV II

House. C14 with C16 alterations and extensions and full restoration in 1994/5. Timber-framed and rendered, with raised roughcast panels to the front; old plaintiled roof. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics: jettied along the street frontage. One window to each storey: on the 1st storey, a 16-pane sash in a flush cased frame. On the ground storey, a small-paned early C19 shop window with a rounded corner is divided by pilasters and has panelled stall-boards. A 2-light casement window in the attic has good ornate C17 window latches. This surviving cross-wing is the oldest surviving part of the complex which includes the whole of Nos 62 & 63 Whiting Street (qv). It was originally built against an earlier, probably C13, hall range. A C16 chimney-stack on the south gable wall indicates that at that time there was also a range adjoining on the south: the top of the stack is in red brick, with saw-tooth chimneys on a high base; the lower part is rendered, and has a fireplace with stone jambs on the upper storey of its south side. The 6-panel entrance door is in a plain wood surround with a rectangular fanlight above. Short C19 cast-iron railings and a matching gate with arrow-head finials and scrolled tops to the main supports are attached to the front of the house. INTERIOR: cellar filled in. The entrance door leads into a long passage which is structurally part of the adjoining C15 hall range to the north (now within No.62 and part of No.63): the studding of the end wall of the hall is exposed, butted up against the side-wall of this cross-wing. The wing is in 4 bays, divided on the upper storey into 2 rooms; the original ground-storey arrangement is not clear, though there is now a dividing wall. The main posts of the frame have the remains of long 2-way braces rising to the wallplates, housed with open lap joints, some slightly dovetailed. The front ground storey room has a heavy C15 ceiling with a chamfered main beam supported by large arched braces (one removed) and plain joists. The rear room has a C14 ceiling with lodged joists. A

C16 fireplace in the front bay, part of the stack built against the south wall has a wide opening with a fine cambered lintel and supporting jambs of reused stone. On the upper storey the main ceiling beams are closely set. The roof is a plain C17 replacement with side purlins, but there is fragmentary evidence in one truss that it was originally of crown post form. (Information from Philip Aitkens).

Listing NGR: TL8533363904