8, Whiting Street

This is a house, now used as a shop and office, dating to the late 15th century with alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is located in Whiting Street, Bury St Edmunds. The front of the building is timber-framed and has been roughcast, with a slate roof to the front and plain tiled roof to the rear. It consists of a two-bay front range and a later, rear wing.

The front of the building has two windows on each storey, with single vertical glazing-bars in moulded, flush-cased frames. The first-floor windows have eared architraves. There are two flat-topped dormers with lead roofs, incorporating plain, modern sash windows. A heavy, moulded wooden cornice runs above the first-floor windows, with a plain eaves soffit above. The central door has six raised, fielded panels; the top two panels are glazed, and is surrounded by a moulded architrave, a scotia-moulded frieze, and a triangular pediment. The north side has a projecting former garden wall, built of red brick with some reused Abbey stone blocks, rising to first-floor level. Ground-floor shop fronts have been added in a traditional style.

Inside the front range, there are remains of a crown-post roof. The crown post, now embedded in a partition wall, has a mutilated moulded cap and base, largely concealed by the current floor level. It is braced only to the collar purlin. Original rafters are visible in one bay along the rear slope of the roof, with empty housings where collars were once located. The front of the roof was pushed forward and subsequently raised, resulting in a shallower pitch. In the north-east corner, sections of original wall framing are visible, including a wall plate, tie-beam, and arched brace with traces of red ochre colouring on the timbers. A chimney stack against the north wall, constructed of irregularly bonded Tudor brick, has a fireplace only on the ground floor. The 17th-century rear wing has remains of a side purlin roof. A mid-19th century winder stair in the south-east angle features a ramped handrail and stick balusters. A boxed-in beam on the ground floor is supported by decorative early 18th-century console brackets that have been re-set.