10, 11 AND 12, THE TRAVERSE

Nos 10, 11 and 12, The Traverse, Bury St Edmunds

A pair of houses, now divided into three separate shop premises on the ground storey but divided between two on the upper storeys. The building is basically late 15th and early 16th century in origin, with early 19th century alterations. It is timber-framed, initially jettied along the street frontage, with plaintiled roofs incorporating a moulded wood eaves cornice.

The exterior comprises two storeys, attics and cellars. The front elevation shows a four-window range with all windows being 12-pane sashes in flush cased frames, although the window of No 10 is set higher than the others. Three lead-covered segmental-headed dormers with rendered cheeks and small-paned casement windows break the roofline. Three 20th-century shop fronts occupy the ground storey.

The rear ranges were formerly separate timber-framed houses facing on to Skinner Street, now joined to the Traverse frontages. No 10 contains a shop occupying only the ground storey, linked to the ground-storey Skinner Street frontage of No 9B The Traverse.

No 11 has a small late 15th-century two-bay range to Skinner Street, rendered and jettied with exposed joist ends. It overlaps with another late 15th-century jettied house to the south where part of the jetty has been underbuilt and the roofline is higher. The first storey contains two windows: a tripartite small-paned window above the exposed jetty with a large central 16-pane sash and two smaller side lights made up of reused parts, and a 12-pane sash window in a flush cased frame to the south. The ground storey has one 12-pane and one 16-pane sash window, both in flush cased frames with panelled external shutters. A large rendered lucum-like dormer has a 2-light casement window. A half-glazed door set at an angle contains panes of old bull's eye glass.

The Skinner Street range behind No 12 is rendered, with part of the jetty underbuilt but part exposed, and embattled ornament along the bressumer. Two 12-pane sash windows occupy the upper storey; the ground storey contains one 12-pane sash and another with plate glass, all in flush cased frames.

Internally, extensive cellars contain walling of brick, flint and stone blocks with wide arched recesses below No 12. Little timber framing survives on the ground or first storeys, but following recent restoration the gap between the Traverse and Skinner Street sections is clearly visible, as is the join between the two frames on the upper rear of No 11. The two-bay northern part of No 11 has a crown-post roof, formerly in an attic but now blocked off. The shaft and capital are mutilated but retain part of their mouldings. The roof was formerly braced four ways but now has braces only to the collar-purlin. Along the east slope of the roof most of the original rafters have been cut away and replaced by rafters with side purlins. No 12 has little exposed framing internally, but part of the structure of the underbuilt jetty is visible along the Skinner Street side: a main post carries a solid bracket with a moulded capital and shaft below it. A crown-post roof survives here as well.