Masonic Hall Bury St. Edmunds, England

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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