Description

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8563NE ABBEY PRECINCTS
639-1/11/112 St Margaret's House
07/08/52

GV II*

House; now part of the Shire Hall. Early C18, but
incorporating C13 Abbey remains and also early C20 extensions.
In red brick with lighter rubbed brick dressings; tiled roof.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and cellars; only the original C18 north
front survives. This has a 7 window range, arranged 3:1:3 with
the centre breaking forward slightly. All windows with glazing
bars in broad flush cased frames with flat gauged arches. The
east and west ends have broad giant brick pilasters rising
through 3 storeys to a moulded brick dentil cornice. The
projecting centre has similar pilasters surmounted by a
moulded brick pediment. A brick band runs below the top storey
windows. Central doorway with a stone surround and a pediment
on enriched console brackets. A large moulded brick
chimney-stack. On the east, a timber-framed and plastered
2-and-a-half storey C18 wing with a slate mansard roof. 5
window range: sashes with narrow glazing bars in flush cased
frames; 3 dormers. The south side of the building is enclosed
by a series of ornately gabled Edwardian extensions, including
a turret with conical roof.
INTERIOR: an old wine cellar below the western half of the
main range. The brick-fronted range has a C17 timber-framed
core: to the right of the entry a 2-bay room, now divided into
2, has an ovolo-moulded main beam and is fully panelled with
raised fielded panels.
The entrance hall has a fine early C18 stair with bracketed
open strings, three vase-on-reel balusters to each step and a
dado with raised fielded panels. Along the base of the 1st
storey balustrade is ornamental plasterwork with floral and
leaf designs and a central wreathed anchor. Above part of the
2nd-storey stair a section of C17 stair with
barley-sugar-twist balusters.
The mansard-roofed range contains a length of the south
precinct wall of the Abbey, which forms part of one internal
wall on the ground storey and includes a hollow chamfered
pointed arched stone doorway, uncovered during recent repair
work.

Listing NGR: TL8580163977

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545764

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

• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)