43, Eastgate Street

No. 43 Eastgate Street is a house located in Bury St Edmunds, dating from the late 15th century or early 16th century, with a front added in the mid-19th century. The building is timber-framed and faced with red brick, topped by a 20th-century plain-tiled roof.

The house has two storeys and is a two-bay fragment of a larger structure. It features one window on each storey: a two-light small-paned casement on the upper storey and a sash window with plain reveals on the ground storey. The entrance door, which is recessed and in a traditional style, is accessed by three steps with wrought-iron handrails. Both the door and the ground storey window are adorned with flat rendered arches. An end chimney stack has a plain rebuilt red brick shaft.

Inside, much of the timber frame remains, showcasing substantial and widely spaced studding, along with some remnants of original wattle-and-daub infill. Evidence of paired four-light diamond-mullioned windows can be seen through shutter slides and empty mortices, with one rear ground storey window still retaining its mullions. The main transverse beam on the ground storey has been altered but retains triangle stops, while the associated joists are wide and unchamfered. The trusses feature cambered tie-beams, and arched braces are visible in the end truss on the west, which lacks original studding. The tie-beam of the open truss has a central mortice and peg for a missing crown-post, and the collar-purlin has been repurposed to create two side purlins. The removal of the crown-post structure is linked to the chimney stack, which was inserted in the late 16th century into the eastern bay and includes two back-to-back hearths, one serving the now-missing part of the house. The stack is constructed of Tudor brick and features a wide plain cambered lintel above the ground storey hearth.