Summary
Nos. 62a, 62 and 64 Friars Street, formerly listed as nos. 60-64 Friars Street, are a terrace of three cottages of the C15, altered in the C17, C19 and C20.
Reasons for Designation
Nos.62a, 62 and 64 Friars Street, vernacular buildings of the C15 and later date, are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural Interest: The dwellings are constructed with a good quality, substantial timber frame which exhibits craftsmanship in construction and detailing.
* Intactness: They retain a significant proportion of a C15 building with a cross wing.
* Interior: The interiors retain features of interest including a carved C15 bresummer and C17 doors with their door furniture.
* Historical Interest: Association with the Priory and evidence of change to the historic fabric post-dissolution bear witness to the evolution of vernacular buildings, adding interest to the cottages. * Group Value: Nos.62a, 62 and 64 Friars Street have group value with many listed buildings in their immediate vicinity.
History
Sudbury Dominican Priory was founded in 1272 outside of the town ditch on a site covering approximately 5 acres. From the early C14, Friars Street was formed leading from the Priory buildings into the town. From the early C15, additional buildings including the gate house, extant Priory lodge and, it is said, nos. 62a, 62 and 64 Friars Street, were constructed for use by the Priory. After the dissolution, many of the Priory buildings were demolished; architectural features were known to have been incorporated into other buildings. The chancel roof, for example, was taken by one of the friars to his new living at Walden and it is thought that the carved bressumer in no.62 Friars Street (see below) may also have originated from the Priory.
The original configuration of nos. 62a, 62 and 64 Friars Street is uncertain. No.64 is jettied and retains some C15 framing. It may have been an open hall, but was remodelled in the C17 when a ceiling and a chimney was inserted. The framing exposed in the attic and roof structure is also of C17 date, suggesting significant remodelling in the century after the Priory's dissolution, possibly by the Ruggle (or Rogyll) family, notable weavers who bought the cottages after the dissolution and operated their business from them until at least the C17. Nos. 62a and 62 are likely to have been a hall built in one phase, probably in the C15, with a projecting, jettied cross wing at the west end of no.62. In the C17, a central chimney stack and a ceiling were inserted and the roof may have been replaced at this time. The millinery shop that was habituated by Mrs Susan Gardiner, sister to the famous painter, Thomas Gainsborough (born in Sudbury in 1727), was located on the ground floor of the cross wing in the C18. The buildings were extended to the rear in the C19. Clay pipes were manufactured on the land to the rear of no.62, where the remains of a possible kiln have been found. Further remodelling occurred in the C20 when the rear pitch of the roof of no.62a was altered, many of the windows were replaced and the openings reconfigured. No. 62 was renovated in the mid C20, when the ground floor, front wall-frame was replaced.
The buildings were listed as nos. 60-64 Friars Street in 1971. Owing to the construction of a new building to the east, the street numbering of no.60 has changed to no.62a.
Details
MATERIALS
The cottages have a rendered timber-frame and tiled, gable roofs.
PLAN
The cottages may have been a hall house, with cross wing, probably subdivided from the C17.
EXTERIOR
No.64 has two storeys with an attic. There is a small, central dormer beneath a gablet and a jetty at the façade. There are pairs of timber mullion and transom windows at both the ground and first floors, and a C20 entrance door to the right. C19 and C20 extensions obscure the rear elevation of the earlier phase. A tall, C19 chimney rises from the eaves of the rear pitch and a small dormer window lights the stairs to the attic. The east and west elevations are hidden by the adjacent properties.
The main range of no.62 has two storeys; no.62a and the cross wing of no.62 have three storeys. Both dwellings have C20 entrance doors with simple door cases, and mostly C20 windows at the main façade, although the former milliners retains a C18 shop front. The projecting cross-wing at the west end (no.62) has a jetty to the front; there is inserted C20 fenestration in the rear elevation. Both dwellings have been extended and altered to the rear.
INTERIOR
The interior of no.64 comprises C15 cross frames to the left and right, (the latter shared with no.62), with a mid-rail and close studwork on ground and first floors. The front wall frame at ground floor and the jetty plate are exposed. An axial bridging beam of substantial scantling, with roll moulding and stops, has bolted, carved brackets at the east and west end. The size and detailing of the beam suggests that it is earlier than the date of the ceiling, and may have been reused from another structure. Fireplaces are located to the rear, one of which incorporates some C18 brickwork. A wall post, the wall plate and studs of the rear wall frame are partly evident. Apparent on the first floor are the tie beam, studs and arched braces to the wall posts of the cross frame shared with no.62, and an inserted ceiling of C17 date. The wall plate, one post and some studs are exposed on the front wall frame. In the attic, the right-hand cross frame comprises studs of light scantling, probably C17 in date, but all other wall and cross framing is plastered over. Wide floorboards remain on this floor. The roof structure is a simple pegged, common, coupled rafter structure with collars and purlins.
The interior of no.62 retains most of a C15 timber frame with some evidence of reuse. The principal room on the ground floor has an inglenook with an intricately carved, cambered bresummer, which is most likely of a C15 date, and may be reused from a building of higher status. The front wall frame has been replaced, but the close-studded, cross frame and mid-rail (the latter with iron straps) and a chamfered, transverse bridging beam are apparent. A C17 battened door, with applied fillets, leads to the rear of the building, remodelled in the C19. The cross wing has a room to the front and rear. The wall and cross frames have sole plates, mid-rails and close studs, and inserted ceilings comprising bridging beams and joists. The wall plate, tie beams and studs of the rear wall frame of the main range are apparent at the first floor in the remodelled stairwell, and in the principal bedroom. Although the front wall frame has been replaced at ground-floor level, it survives above at first-floor level. The roof truss at the rear of the cross wing has been remodelled, and most of the wall framing is covered by plaster, but the tie beam is exposed. The attic storey at the front of the cross wing is accessed through a C17 plank door with false panelling to the front, decorated with a central, moulded muntin, and possessing contemporary strap hinges. The purlins and collars of the cross wing roof are exposed in the attic. The roof structure over the main range comprises pegged, common, coupled rafters with collars.
The interior of no. 62a was not inspected.
