Summary
Former house, likely built in two phases in the late C17 or early C18, later sub-divided into four cottages.
Reasons for Designation
3-6 Bury Road is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the architectural quality of this historic vernacular building, likely constructed in two phases in the late C17 or early C18, and later sub-divided into four cottages;
* for the high proportion of survival of its historic and evolved plan form;
* for the high proportion of survival of historic interior features including chimneys, inglenook fireplaces, chamfered oak beams and bressummers, and timber framing and floor finishes at ground floor level.
Historic interest:
* for the historic role the cottages played in housing workers of Hengrave Hall and their families, and the contribution the building makes to historic Hengrave and its conservation area.
Group value:
* it forms an important historic group with a cluster of nearby thatched cottages along Bury Road, including Michaelmas Cottage to the rear, and Lateran Tye, 8-10 Bury Road and Linnet Cottage to the east (each listed at Grade II);
* it forms a historic group with the listed structures of Hengrave Hall, including the entrance gate piers and railings and gate lodge of the hall (both listed at Grade II), which stand directly opposite.
History
3-6 Bury Road was likely constructed as a single dwelling in two phases in the late C17 or early C18. It stands directly opposite the north-east entrance and gate lodge of Hengrave Hall and is anecdotally recorded as housing workers of the estate and their families. The tithe apportionment of 1841 records the group of cottages opposite the east entrance of Hengrave Hall as being owned by Sir Thomas Gage. The building now known as 3-6 Bury Road was sub-divided into multiple cottages and is shown as four dwellings on the 1884 and 1904 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps, with two dwellings in each of its front and rear ranges.
The Hengrave estate continued to own 3-6 Bury Road until the mid-C20, when the cottages were initially sold as a group, and then sold to individual owners. The 1972 OS map depicts three dwellings, one occupying the south-west end of the front range, one occupying the north-east end of the front range and south-east end of the rear range, and another occupying the north-west end of the rear range. Nos 5 and 6 Bury Road (now Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 Bury Road) were listed at Grade II in 1972. The building was extensively damaged by fire on 25 April 2022.
Details
Former house, likely built in two phases in the late C17 or early C18, later sub-divided into four cottages.
MATERIALS: The building is timber framed with lime plaster render over a red brick plinth. Its roofs were formerly thatched with water reed however they were destroyed by fire in 2022.
PLAN: Roughly L-shaped on plan, comprising a front range aligned north-east to south-west abutting Bury Road (containing No 5 and part of No 4), and an attached perpendicular rear range aligned north-west to south-east (containing No 3 and part of No 4); No 6 was built in the east return and extends north-east.
EXTERIOR: The building is one-and-half storeys in height, the roof of the front range being marginally higher than the rear range. The pitched roofs were formerly thatched with water reed and an ornamental scalloped ridge, however they were destroyed by fire in 2022. The front range has an axial red brick chimneystack to the north-east of centre, two wall dormers to the north-west slope and a carved bargeboard to the south-west gable. The roof of the rear range has an axial red brick chimneystack to its ridge and two wall dormers to the front (south-west) elevation, and No 6 has a tall red-brick chimneystack to the rear. The timber-framed walls are lime plastered throughout over a red brick plinth.
The south-west gable of the front range, facing Bury Road, has a decorative scalloped bargeboard, two-light attic window and four-light ground-floor window, both with a hoodmould and containing pointed-arched metal-framed casement windows with octagonal leaded panes. To the left side, a single-storey single-bay lean-to porch was added in the late C19, with a thatched roof, a half-glazed door with a segmental canopy, and a metal-framed casement window to the side with latticed leaded lights. The north-west side of the front range has two attic dormers, each with two-light metal-framed casement windows in a wooden frame and containing latticed leaded lights, and two ground-floor windows, one a metal-framed three-light casement window in a wooden frame with octagonal leaded panes, and the other a single casement with a latticed leaded light. The south-east side of the front range has a metal-framed casement window to the stairwell, and a wide, curved, single-storey thatched canopy supported by timber posts. Under the canopy is a porch with a timber-panelled door, and a single-storey lean-to kitchen extension with a timber-panelled door and a two-light metal-framed casement window.
The attached rear range is marginally lower than the front range, and has entrances to No 3 and No 4 on its front (south-west) elevation facing Bury Road, each under a segmental canopy; the door to No 3 is half-glazed and the door to No 4 is ledged and braced with original door furniture. The two cottages each have a gabled dormer and a ground-floor window, each containing a two-light casement window with latticed leaded lights. The upper part of the north-west gable was removed following the fire in 2022, and retains a single window to the ground floor with decorative coloured glass set behind an outer secondary fixed light in a wooden surround. The south-east gable and the thatched roof of its attached single-storey porch (added in the 1970s) were destroyed by fire in 2022; a three-light timber-framed casement window survives to the right of the porch. The rear (north-east) elevation has a single-storey rear projection behind No.6, with a pitched pantile roof, and a tall red-brick chimney. Nos. 3 and 4 share a single-storey rear projection with a flat roof, timber-framed casement windows and part-glazed timber doors (all destroyed in the fire).
INTERIOR: Across all four cottages, the interior oak roof structure above the wall plate, a high proportion of the first-floor structure and floor joists, stanchion posts, timber stud partition walls between first-floor bedrooms, staircases, and ledged doors were destroyed by fire in 2022.
The front range contains No 5 at its south-west end, part of No 4 at its north-east end, and No 6 in the return between the two ranges. Within No 5, the interior of the late-C19 porch on the south-west side has decorative coloured floor tiles, and leads to two reception rooms with open stud partitions, a continuous oak beam resting over an inglenook fireplace on the north-east wall, and ledged timber doors. The rear room retains a pamment floor. From the north-east corner of the road-side room, a winder stair rises to a landing and two bedrooms at first-floor level (damaged by fire). No 6 has two rooms on the ground floor, a living room with a chamfered oak beam and a small altered fireplace on the north-east wall, and a kitchen to the rear with a pamment floor. In the south-east corner of the living room, a winder stair rises to a first-floor landing, with a bedroom to the north-east side and a smaller bedroom to the south-west side (destroyed by fire in 2022).
The rear range contains No 3 and part of No 4, and they share a chimneystack on their central wall; their ground floor rooms each have an chamfered oak beam resting over an inglenook fireplace with a chamfered wooden bressummer. Cupboards to either side of the fireplace (likely representing the former location of a door on one side and a stair on the other) have ledged timber doors. The ground floor of No 3 appears to have been extended slightly to the north-west, possibly to infill under a first-floor jetty. Nos 3 and 4 share a single-storey range to the rear, both containing a kitchen and dining room and bathroom (destroyed in the fire). From the north-west corner of No 3 and south-east corner of the dining room of No 4, stairs rise to the first-floor bedrooms (not accessible due to fire damage). From the south-west corner of the dining room of No 4, a door opening leads through to a living room in the north-east end of the front range, with a chamfered oak beam resting over a cast-iron fireplace on the south-west wall. A ledged door in the south-west corner provides access to a winder stair, which rises to a first-floor bedroom over (not accessible due to fire damage).
