55 And 56, Churchgate Street

The building at 55 and 56 Churchgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, is a house originally dating from the early to mid 16th century, with extensions added around 1700 and a new front in the early 19th century. It is timber-framed and plastered, with traces of the original timber framing visible. The roof has 20th-century plaintiles on the front slope and clay pantiles to the rear.

The house has two storeys and attics, following a basic three-cell plan. A jetty originally projected along the street frontage, but this now sits below ground level, leaving only a slight overhang. There are three brick chimneys: two on the rear roof slope and one on the front. The front features four windows, all of which are 16-pane sashes in flush frames with moulded detailing. There are three flat-roofed dormers, two belonging to No. 55 with six-pane sashes, and one to No. 56 with a 20th-century casement window. Matching door surrounds have plain reveals and architraves; a moulded cornice sits below the jetty. No. 55 has a six-panel door with raised fielded panels, and No. 56 has a six-panel door with sunk panels and moulded surrounds, both with simple rectangular fanlights above.

Inside No. 55, the interior has been altered in a Georgian style, with only one exposed main beam on the ground floor. This area seems to have been the original service area and hall, with a small passage connecting them. No. 56 retains a single bay of the original front range, which appears to be the parlour. This room's ground-floor ceiling is particularly noteworthy, featuring fine exposed timber; the main beam has a double roll-moulding, and the joists a smaller single roll, both with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. A bressumer indicates the original line of the jetty. It has a face-halved and bladed scarf and empty mortices for studs. The original timber ceiling is partially hidden by plaster near the west wall. The junction with the adjacent property at No. 57 is not entirely clear. A rear addition, dating from around 1700, is connected to the front by a small chimney-stack with a bolection-moulded fireplace surround. In the room above the parlour, a section of square Jacobean panelling has been incorporated into a cupboard door with H-hinges, and there is an unusual Victorian cast-iron grate with floral decoration. There is a slight overlap between the two properties at the rear.