16 And 18, Bridewell Lane

House, now divided into two, located on Bridewell Lane in Bury St Edmunds. Dating to the 15th century with earlier fragments incorporated into part of the building and later extensions added to the front.

The structure is timber-framed, rendered to number 16 and roughcast to number 18, with plaintile roofing. It comprises two storeys, attics and cellars, arranged in a half-H form with two projecting storied cross-wings to the north and south flanking a former two-bay open hall in the centre. The hall has been divided between the two properties on the line of an inserted chimney-stack with a cruciform red brick shaft.

Number 16 displays random fenestration partly resulting from mid-20th century restoration. The ground storey of the cross-wing contains a tripartite small-paned sash window; the first storey has a 12-pane sash in a flush cased frame; the attic storey has a small sliding sash. The hall range features a rectangular projecting bay with a fixed 12-pane window and flat roof on the ground storey, and just below the eaves a small two-light ovolo-moulded mullioned window. A flat-headed dormer in the roof slope contains a small-paned two-light casement window. The entrance door on the north side of the wing is set within a heavy Greek Doric doorcase with fluted columns, a triglyph frieze and cornice. This doorcase was removed from Blomfield House in the 1960s when that building was demolished to make way for the Health Centre.

Number 18 has a narrow one-and-a-half storey extension on the north side of its cross-wing and a wide single-storey extension to the south. Windows are predominantly 19th-century sashes in flush cased frames with a single vertical glazing-bar, except for one former shop window with a moulded fascia and cornice to the right of the entrance, and a small-paned two-light casement window to the upper storey of the former hall. The entrance has a four-panel door with the top two panels glazed and a blank rectangular fanlight in a wooden surround with a flat bracketed pediment. Nineteenth-century extensions at the rear of the wing are now occupied as a separate house.

The interior of number 16 contains an impressive fireplace surround and overmantel on the south wall with enriched bolection-mouldings, introduced from elsewhere and unrelated to the chimney-stack. The cross-wing displays exposed framing only on the north wall adjoining the hall; on the first storey the wallplate has an edge-halved scarf joint with undersquinted bridled abutments. The roof at the rear of the wing has been raised. The hall range is separately framed with an open truss butted against the wing, featuring a main post with bracket and shaft and a long arched brace to the tie-beam. The lower bay of the hall, now in number 16, has been opened up to tie-beam level. Along the front wall studding remains only above the level of the middle rail. The central open truss sits immediately in front of the inserted stack, positioned over the site of the original open hearth. The main post of the central truss, visible in the front wall, is ogee-moulded with the remains of a bracket and shaft and a long arched brace to the tie-beam. Red ochre colouring is visible on some timbers.

The attic storey contains a crown-post standing on a cambered tie-beam, with a tall octagonal shaft moulded at cap and base and originally braced four ways. The braces to the collar-purlin have been removed and the roof is ceiled over at collar level so that no rafters are visible.

The interior of number 18 has been extensively modernised during the 1980s with many original features concealed, particularly in the cross-wing. A fine flint and stone cellar is vaulted in 17th-century brick. A thick wall of rubble flint separates the hall and the wing, with the stone jamb to one side of a doorway; the doorhead is missing. On the hall side of this wall stands a second open truss with an ogee-moulded and cambered tie-beam supported by arched braces; a crown-post moulded at cap and base stands above. The collar-purlin is a replacement, but the collars and rafters are original. The hall timbers are all massive and lightly smoke-blackened. The front wall retains the rebate for the former hall window which had an ogee-moulded surround; mortice-holes suggest the mullions were moulded. A mid-17th century inserted ceiling overlies the hall on two levels, with main beams featuring chamfer and scroll stops and plain joists. The 17th-century chimney-stack has a timber lintel, chamfered with scroll stops.