The Fox Inn

Details

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE EASTGATE STREET 639-1/8/325 (North side) 07/08/52 No.1 The Fox Inn

GV II*

Public house, formerly a merchant's house. C15. Timber-framed and rendered; plaintiled roofs. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys and cellars; half-H form with 2 jettied cross-wings; on a corner site. On the north the jetty is at a higher level than on the south and has the joist ends covered by a fascia board; the wing on the south is jettied on 2 sides with the joist ends exposed, but the corner-post has been removed. 12-pane sash windows in flush cased frames, irregularly spaced, 4 to the 1st storey and 6 to the ground storey, on the east front; 2 similar upper windows and one ground storey window and door on the Mustow Street frontage, which has C19 crow-stepped gabling at the west end. INTERIOR: former 2-bay open hall with a fine crown-post roof. Open truss with a heavily cambered tie-beam supported by arched braces meeting at the centre. Crown-post moulded at cap and base, braced 4 ways at the head. Roof with original smoke-blackened rafters is now within a later shallow pitched roof set at a higher level. Rear wall and wallplate cut away to allow for a C19 rear extension. The upper north end wall of the hall has close studding and tension bracing. On the ground storey, an embattled dais beam with brackets for a former canopy. The inserted hall ceiling has double ogee mouldings to the main cross-beams and to joists, all with run-off stops. The 2-bay cross-wing on the south has a boxed-in main cross-beam on the ground storey supported by a cast-iron pillar; one trimmer has a wide chamfer and triangle stops. On the upper storey the principal room has exposed studding and the tie-beam of the open truss has supporting arched braces. A crown-post within the roof space has a plain square shaft, braced 2 ways at the head. Rafters original with some later strutting. The cross-wing at the north end, where the jetty is at a higher level, had all or part of the ground storey as an open entrance or carriage-way originally. The present ground storey ceiling is an insertion of the early C17, with ovolo-moulding and scroll stops to the cross-beams. On the upper storey, the arched braced tie-beam of the open truss is exposed with the moulded base of a crown-post. The centre of the building has

had 2 phases of alteration. A drawing made prior to the removal of the East Gate in 1760 shows The Fox with a lower central section and 2 dormer windows. The roof was raised to its present level in the early C19 in conjunction with the insertion of sash windows.

Listing NGR: TL8578264402

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

466796

Legacy System:

LBS

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