51 and 52 College Street and 7 College Lane, Bury St Edmunds

House, now divided into three units. Mid-16th century with 17th-century extensions to part and early 19th-century remodelling and front. Timber-framed; originally jettied on two sides with a corner-post at the north-east corner; encased in early 19th-century white brick; graduated stone slates.

EXTERIOR

Two storeys, cellars and attics on a corner site; the third unit is No.7 College Lane. The structure follows a basic three-cell plan with a gable-end stack on the north. College Street elevation has a four-window range: nine-pane sashes to the first storey, twelve-pane to the ground storey, all in flush moulded cased frames with flat cement arches. Four flat-headed lead-covered dormers have rendered cheeks and two-light single bar casement windows. No.51 has a six-panelled raised fielded door; No.52 has a half-glazed door, both in plain reveals with flat cement arches.

The entry to the third unit is in the north gable end, fronting on College Lane, with rendered finish and plain bargeboards. This elevation features a single-light upper window with a heavy flush frame and two horizontal glazing-bars, a twelve-pane sash in a cased and moulded flush frame at ground level, and a half-glazed door with plain wooden surround and rectangular fanlight.

INTERIOR

No.51 contains the former service rooms and part of the lower bay of the original hall, with dividing partitions removed. The ground-storey room displays plain chamfered main beams and unchamfered flat joists exposed. A later studded partition, inserted in the early 19th century to form an entrance corridor, re-uses older timbers and has had its infill removed. The original rear wall was removed when a 17th-century extension was added, forming a jettied and gabled rear wing; the roof was raised at the same time to provide an attic storey. The cellar is lined with flint and brick, covered with old render, and has supporting ceiling-beams.

No.52 (access not possible) contains the remaining one-and-a-half bays of the former ground-storey hall.

No.7 College Lane contains the former two-bay parlour end of the house. The cellar, converted to a room, has walls of old brick with stone blocks. On the ground storey, the main beam features a double ogee and roll moulding with run-off stops, resting on a main post in the rear wall with shallow multiple roll-mouldings at its head. A trimmer and dragon-beam are decorated with double ogee-mouldings. The upper storey contains a small fireplace with chamfered and cambered lintel and some exposed studding.

A further 16th-century range along College Lane, displaying heavy close studding and a blocked three-light original window with damaged diamond mullions, has been raised. The remainder of this range now forms part of adjoining Nos.7A and 8 College Lane.

The roof is inaccessible.