16 And 17, Churchgate Street

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SW CHURCHGATE STREET 639-1/14/236 (North side) 12/07/72 Nos.16 AND 17

GV II

House, divided into 2. C16, altered in the C18 and C19. Timber-framed and rendered with jettied front; plaintiled roof. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and attics. 3 window range: 16-pane sashes in cased frames. The ground storey has an C18 bay with a moulded sill supported on plain curved brackets and an early C19 shop window with moulded pilasters and cornice, both with fixed 15-pane windows. 2 C20 gabled dormers with projecting eaves and 2-light small-paned casement windows. Solid arched brackets support the jettied front, which was widened to allow for the insertion of the later sash windows. 2 doorways with moulded surrounds: 4-panelled half-glazed door to No.16, and 8 sunk panels to No.17. INTERIOR: this was a single 3-cell 4-bay house, divided into 2 in the early C19 by stud partitions: No.16 now contains one-and-a-half bays and No.17 the remainder. The original framing is plain and substantial: main beams, posts, wallplates and some studding are exposed. Both end bays were partitioned off, leaving a 2-bay single-storey hall in the centre heated by a chimney-stack on the rear wall. The main cross-beams are plain and heavy with a chamfer and curved stepped stops. On the upper storey of No.17 widely spaced studding and tension bracing are exposed along one partition wall; in the front wallplate, a slightly splayed edge-halved and bridled scarf joint. Long jowls to the main posts. Unusually, both end bays have evidence for a former division into 2, with a row of mortices in the soffit of each main beam. In No.17 the sawn-off tenons of the partition studs are still in situ, whereas in No.16 there are no associated peg-holes or tenons, and the partition may never have been completed. Roof-timbers mainly concealed; roof-structure of a side-purlin type, probably clasped. This is one of several buildings in the town where the jetty has been widened to allow for Georgian sashes to be inserted: cf. Nos 25 & 26 (qv) for similar treatment.

Listing NGR: TL8538064052