The Fox Inn

The Fox Inn is a public house, originally a merchant's house, dating to the 15th century. It is situated on a corner site in Bury St Edmunds. The building is timber-framed and rendered, with plaintiled roofs. It has a half-H form with two jettied cross-wings.

On the north side, the jetty is at a higher level than on the south. The south wing has jetties on two sides, with exposed joist ends, although the corner post has been removed. The east front has irregularly spaced 12-pane sash windows in flush cased frames, four to the first storey and six to the ground storey. The Mustow Street frontage has a C19 crow-stepped gabled west end.

The interior includes a former two-bay open hall with a fine crown-post roof. The open truss has a heavily cambered tie-beam supported by arched braces meeting at the centre. The crown post is moulded at the cap and base, braced four ways at the head. The roof, originally smoke-blackened, is now set within a later shallow-pitched roof at a higher level. The rear wall and wallplate were cut away to accommodate a C19 rear extension. On the north end wall of the hall is close studding and tension bracing. On the ground storey is an embattled dais beam with brackets for a former canopy. An inserted hall ceiling has double ogee mouldings to the main cross-beams and joists, with run-out stops.

The two-bay cross-wing on the south has a boxed-in main cross-beam on the ground storey supported by a cast-iron pillar; one trimmer has a wide chamfer and triangle stops. On the upper storey, the principal room has exposed studding and the tie-beam of the open truss has supporting arched braces. A crown-post within the roof space has a plain square shaft, braced two ways at the head, and rafters are original with some later strutting. The north cross-wing, with the higher-level jetty, originally had all or part of the ground storey as an open entrance or carriage-way. The present ground storey ceiling is an early C17 insertion, with ovolo-moulding and scroll stops to the cross-beams. The arched braced tie-beam of the upper storey’s open truss is exposed, showing the moulded base of a crown-post.

A drawing from before the removal of the East Gate in 1760 shows The Fox with a lower central section and two dormer windows. The roof was raised to its present level in the early 19th century, coinciding with the insertion of sash windows.