St Edmund's Almshouse, entrance piers and flanking walls, Bungay, Suffolk

Summary

Almshouse built in 1895 to the designs of E Banham.

Description

Almshouse built in 1895 to the designs of E Banham.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in Flemish bond with stone dressings and plain red tiled roof covering.

PLAN: the almshouse faces south-west onto Outney Road and has a long plan divided into eight dwellings with rear extensions added in the early C21.

EXTERIOR: St Edmund’s Almshouse is a single-storey building with a symmetrical plan in a picturesque Tudor style. The steeply pitched roof has decorative ridge tiles and five tall octagonal chimneys shafts with moulded brick bases and star tops, the middle three in pairs. The principal elevation is defined by five gabled bays, the outer two are projecting cross-wings, and the inner three are half-hipped, all surmounted by terracotta finials and with moulded bargeboards. The gable heads have applied half timbering in various styles of close studding with ogee braces. Running along the bottom edge of the gables is a band of terracotta Tudor roses. The central gable, which is taller than those flanking it, contains a carved stone plaque with gothic trefoil arches bearing the date of 1895 and St Edmund’s Homes with the entwined letters SE above.

The pairs of dwellings are accessed through a loggia within the internal angle of the outer wings or each side of the central gabled bay. The loggias have brick plinths and timber turned balusters with carved, octagonal timber posts and tracery heads, some forming trefoils and others ogee arches. The red and black quarry tiled floors are intact but the front doors, under the original gauged brick arches, are replacements. The central bay has a six-light wooden oriel window with a central cinquefoil panel commemorating the improvements and extensions carried out by the Town Trust in 1974. The outer bays have three-light mullion and transom windows; the left one in wood with a moulded lintel and ogee aprons, and the right one in stone with a hoodmould. The inner bays have two cross casement windows in blocked stone surrounds with hood moulds, whilst those to the left have semicircular heads to the upper lights with trefoil tracery. In between the cross casements are brick buttresses with stone offsets, the upper one carved into a trefoil.

The rear of the almshouse has C21 additions consisting of rendered gabled extensions behind the original gabled bays, with applied timbering to the gable heads, and flat-roofed red brick extensions in between with full-height windows and glazed doors.

INTERIOR: only one house was available for inspection but it is representative of all the others. As a result of the two phases of modernisation in the late C20 and early C21, none of the original fixtures, fittings or finishes remains, with the exception of the window ironmongery.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the almshouse is set back from the road across a grassed lawn retained by a dwarf wall in red brick laid in Flemish bond with curved brick coping. The entrance is flanked by broached hexagonal piers surmounted by stone hexagonal domed caps.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 13 May 2021 to correct the name of the architect, replace several sentences in description and to add two references to selected sources.

History

Almshouses were established in the Middle Ages as charitable foundations to care for the elderly, poor and infirm. Each had a warden, master or prior and consisted of an infirmary hall and chapel, similar in plan to a monastic infirmary. Most almshouses or hospitals, as they were also known, were dissolved as places of worship in 1547 but were re-established by the Elizabethans as refuges for the poor or elderly. The almshouse tradition remained strong throughout the C19 and into the early C20.

St Edmund’s Almshouse in Bungay was built in 1895 using funds donated by Frederick Smith (1833-1903), a local solicitor, who was Town Reeve for four periods of office between1885 and 1900. The cost of the building was £2000 and it provided accommodation for six single tenants and two married couples. H & W Short’s Bungay Almanac (1896) mentions that ‘a beautiful block of eight almshouses has been erected on land adjoining Waveney Terrace […] The architect was Mr. E. Banham, of Beccles, whilst the building operations were carried out by Mr. Allan, of the same town’ (p 5). ‘Allan’ refers to F J Allen, and the professional relationship between Frederic Smith, Banham, and Allen is confirmed by a report in the Eastern Daily Press, 19 May 1896 (p. 6) which mentions the almshouses. Banham also designed the Grade II Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at Gillingham, Norfolk.

In 1973-1974, the Town Reeve Dr Wyndham Jordan oversaw the extensive modernisation of the almshouse which was fitted out with new kitchens, bathrooms and central heating, at a cost of £27,500. At the re-opening ceremony Earl Stradbroke, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, was the guest of honour. The almshouse then underwent further modernisation during the tenure of Richard Cundy, Town Reeve in 2012-13, which involved extending nos 10-20 at the rear to make them suitable for dual occupation should the need arise. The modernised properties were officially opened in June 2014 by Lord Tollemache, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk. In 2019 the external woodwork was restored, removing and replacing the rotten timber only where necessary. Only a small number of casement windows were beyond repair, and these were remade like for like by a local carpenter.

Reasons for Listing

St Edmund’s Almshouse, built in 1895 to the designs of E Banham, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* its Tudoresque style with the five gabled bays embellished by applied timber framing to the gable heads, stone mullion windows and finely crafted Gothic detailing forms a picturesque composition of considerable aesthetic appeal;

* its low steeply pitched roofs surmounted by tall ornate chimney stacks and the sheltered entrance loggias convey the visual qualities of homeliness and comfort that are integral to the character of this building type;

* it is the work of an accomplished architect, and the strong probability that it is by Bernard Smith FRIBA adds significantly to its architectural interest, particularly as three other buildings to his design in Bungay are already listed, one at Grade II*.

Historic interest:

* it aptly illustrates the architectural embellishment with which almshouses are traditionally treated, partly to reflect well on their benefactor.

Group value:

* it has group value with many nearby listed buildings, notably the Grade II listed C16 Waveney Cottage on the opposite side of Outney Road.

External Links

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