23, Westgate Street

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8563NW WESTGATE STREET 639-1/15/672 (South side) 12/07/72 No.23

GV II

House. C16 and C17, altered in the early C19. Timber-framed; fronted in white brick; plaintiled roof. A large plain end chimney-stack on the west. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, attic and cellar, with a 2-storey rear wing. 2 window range: 12-pane sashes in flush cased frames with segmental arches to frames and surrounds. A 6-panel door with a shallow fanlight has a doorcase with pilasters and a flat cornice hood on moulded brackets. A recessed foot-scraper in the wall by the entrance door. INTERIOR: small brick-lined cellar. The front ground storey room has square Jacobean panelling, discovered during restoration in the 1970s, which covers one wall and forms a dado to another. Fireplace with a reeded surround. Moulded plaster cornice. Early C19 stair with stick balusters and ramped and moulded handrail. On the upper storey the back wall has good C16 studding with a shallow cranked tension brace pegged to the studs and a middle rail with assembly marks. The C17 timber-framed rear wing is butted up against this wall: it has some original studding and a rebuilt end wall in C20 brick. It was probably originally open to the roof and the ceiling joists may be a C20 insertion. All the roof timbers are concealed. On the south side the house overlaps with a small timber-framed wing forming part of No.24 (qv).

Listing NGR: TL8531263762