Provosts House And Number 4 Churchyard (Clopton Cottage)

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE ABBEY PRECINCTS 639-1/8/108 (North side) 07/08/52 Provost's House and No.4 Churchyard (Clopton Cottage) (Formerly Listed as: ABBEY PRECINCTS Provost House (Clopton House) and No 4 Churchyard)

GV I

Formerly known as: The Clopton Asylum ABBEY PRECINCTS. Almshouses. Built c1744 under the will of Dr Poley Clopton (d.1730). From c1890 the Vicarage of St James' Church; now divided between The Provost's House and No.4 Churchyard. In red brick with stone dressings and quoins; tiled roof with a parapet and stone cornice. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and basement. A long central range with 2 wings extending north and south. 7 windows to the main range, all 12-pane sashes in plain reveals; the centre, which breaks forward slightly, has rusticated quoins, 3 windows and a pediment with a stone coat of arms bearing the Clopton motto in Old French 'DORENAVANT OUBLIER NE DOY': (It must not be forgotten from henceforth). The south gable of each wing has 2 12-pane sash windows in plain reveals to each storey and 2 blank windows to each storey of the walls facing towards the entry. The entrance door, up 4 stone steps with swept cast-iron railings, is 8-panel, slightly recessed in a doorcase with plain pilasters and a moulded flat cornice hood supported by enriched console brackets. On the frieze is a panel with a Latin inscription recording Dr Poley's bequest for the founding of the almshouses. INTERIOR: this still retains some evidence of the almshouse layout, but was considerably altered when the building became St James' Vicarage in the late C19. The extensive basement, forming a half-cellar, was evidently the main almshouse storage area and is brick-lined and vaulted throughout. A corridor runs along the whole front with larders and stores opening off it. At each end a larger room was used for fuel. On the ground storey the entrance hall was originally the communal dining room and still retains a small C18 fireplace with a plain stone surround at each end. A large late C19 imperial stair was introduced into this area and a number of doors and doorways altered. The interior is plain; 2 fireplace surrounds in Georgian style, one on the ground storey and one above, are in painted

cast-iron; one bears the central motif of a shell, linking it with the building's use as St James' Vicarage. HISTORICAL NOTE: No.4 Churchyard (Clopton Cottage) was apparently the house of the master of the almshouse and has slightly more prestigious fittings, notably the fireplace surround in the principal ground storey room, which has a complex bolection-moulded architrave with corner bosses.

Listing NGR: TL8569964076