Tudor House Museum

Tudor House Museum is a late 14th century and 16th century town house, altered in the 18th century and restored around 1911, now presented to the town as a museum. The building was largely constructed between 1491 and 1518 by Sir John Dawtrey, and incorporates a banqueting hall dating back a century earlier. It later served as the home of Sir Richard Lyster, Lord Chief Justice to Henry VIII, who is buried in the nearby Church of St Michael.

The building occupies a corner location. The Bugle Street elevation is three storeys high, exhibiting timber framing with brick infill. It has a tiled roof, with each upper floor projecting over the sides of the window sills, supported by plaster cores. Four small gables are separated by decorative pendants. A projecting two-storey porch is located on the north side, with an oversailing upper storey supported by carved brackets. The porch features a four-centred arched doorway both externally and internally, with carved spandrels, and an original door with vertical ribs and studs. Restored wooden mullioned and transomed windows are also present. The rear elevation is constructed of stone and includes a two-light arched Perpendicular window. An 18th century two-storey addition extends to the west, partly tile-hung and featuring canted bay windows.

The interior contains a medieval vault of flat-arched, tunnel shape. A stone fireplace with a Tudor arch is found in the main front room. A mid-15th century banqueting hall rises two storeys in height. There’s a screens passage, originally consisting of two short spanes, with a gallery above (though this is not original). Two Tudor doors with four-centred arches and carved spandrels are also present. The ceiling is of wooden square panels. The east wall features a blocked doorway with a four-centred arch and carved spandrels, while the west wall has a renewed stone fireplace of 16th century origin, displaying a blank shield and Tudor Rose in the spandrels. One first-floor room has panelling dating to around 1700 and a 19th century fireplace surround. Another first-floor room boasts a late 16th century barrel-vaulted ceiling and a moulded wooden cornice. The basement comprises five rubble undercrofts of 15th-century origin. A memorial tablet, originally from the demolished Bevois Mount House, is set into the rear wall. The site is scheduled as an ancient monument.