Description

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE CHURCHGATE STREET
639-1/8/250 (North side)
07/08/52 No.37
Masonic Hall
(Formerly Listed as:
CHURCHGATE STREET
(North side)
No.37
Registered Office of St Edmundsbury
Masonic Hall Co.Ltd.)

GV II

Formerly known as: The Six Bells Inn CHURCHGATE STREET.
Masonic hall, formerly a public house, but probably initially
a house. Mid C18, extended in the early C19. Red brick with
part plaintiled, part slate roofs.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and cellars; on an island site. The
L-shaped C18 range, with a return front to Angel Hill, has a
fully hipped roof and a plain rendered parapet. 5 window
range: all sashes with flush cased frames and flat gauged
arches. On the ground storey, lights with a single vertical
bar and coloured square-leaded glazing in which roundels
display various masonic symbols; a similar arrangement to the
4 outer windows of the 1st storey, which are without
glazing-bars, but the central window is still 12-pane. On the
2nd storey all 5 windows are 6-pane sashes. Central entrance:
doorcase with pilasters and an open dentilled pediment
supported on moulded console brackets. A 6-panel door with
sunk panels and a fanlight with radial glazing-bars. The
return front to Angel Hill has 5 window range: 12-pane sashes
to the 1st storey, 6-pane sashes to the 2nd storey, a single
vertical bar to the ground storey, the centre window blocked;
all windows with flush cased frames and flat gauged arches. A
raised brick band below the 1st storey windows.
An early C19 extension on the west with a return front to
Athenaeum Lane has a plain red brick parapet with a moulded
stucco cornice and fascia. 3 window range to Churchgate
Street: 12-pane sashes to the ground and 1st storeys, but the
ground storey sashes are longer than those above; 6-pane
sashes to the 2nd storey, all windows in plain reveals with
flat gauged arches and projecting stone sills. A raised stucco
band runs below the 1st storey windows. 2 window range to
Athenaeum Lane, both windows blocked on the ground storey, and
also the window on the left on the 1st and 2nd storeys. One
12-pane sash on the 1st storey and a 6-pane sash on the top

storey. A stone band below the 1st storey windows.
INTERIOR: extensive cellars run below both parts of the
property with walling which includes stone blocks and rubble
flint with old render; various brick tunnel vaults. Evidence
of a fragmentary timber core to the range facing Angel Hill:
chamfered main beams exposed on the ground storey. An early
C19 stair with stick balusters, ramped handrail and bracketed
open strings runs the whole height of the building. One rear
upper room has had a coved ceiling introduced.
The principal meeting room, known as The Temple, runs across
the whole upper floor of the Churchgate Street frontage and
rises to 2 storeys. The upper part of the walls have
bolection-moulded panels in 2 tiers.

Listing NGR: TL8554264087

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26540440

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)