cupola house, bury st edmunds chimney recording
TRANSCRIPT
Cupola House, Bury St Edmunds Chimney Recording
Archaeological Monitoring/Survey Report
SCCAS Report No. 2014/91
Client: Purcell Architects
Author: David Gill
July /2014
© Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service
Contents
Summary
1. Introduction 1
2. Archaeology and historical background 1
3. Methodology 4
4. Analysis of the chimneys 4
The north chimney 6
Basement 7
Ground floor, 7
First floor 9
Second floor 9
The south chimney 9
Basement 10
First Floor 11
Second floor 12
Third Floor 13
Recommended further work 13
5. Figures 14
6. Plates North Chimney 25
7. Plates South Chimney 36
Bibliography 47
List of Figures
Figure 1. Site location of Cupola House shown on A) the modern Ordnance Survey and B) Tho. Warren’s Map of the town 2
Figure 2. Cellar plan showing location of the two chimneys 3
Figure 3. North chimney west elevation with cross-sections 15
Figure 4. North chimney, east elevation 17
Figure 5. South chimney unfolded showing locations of the detailed elevations 18
Figure 6. South chimney, west face: first, second and third floor fireplaces. 19
Figure 7. South chimney, south face: first, second floor and third floor. 20
Figure 8. South chimney, south elevation: first, second and third floors 21
Figure 9. South chimney cross-section second floor level 22
Figure 10. South chimney cross-sections at second and third floor level. 23
Summary
The two chimney stacks of the Grade I listed, 17th century, Cupola House were surveyed as
part of the ongoing recording work related to the reconstruction programme following the fire in
2012. During the aftermath both chimneys were truncated for reasons of safety; the north
chimney at the second floor hearth, the south one at the third floor (attic) hearth. It is estimated
that at least 3-4m has been lost from their full extents but despite this the recorded heights were
still more than 10m and 14m respectively.
The two chimneys are contemporary and part of the original fabric of Cupola House and were
constructed in conjunction with the raising of the timber-frame in 1693 and when built served in
total fifteen fireplaces. The only fireplace left in its original form is probably the basement
kitchen; this is only a simple opening but its bressumer beam remains unmolested. The
attribution of the ‘Queen Anne style’ deep bolection-moulded fireplaces, of which only the south
chimney ground floor example survives, was uncertain when recorded in 2003; this style of
moulding dates from the turn of the 18th century and therefore could be considered as part of
the house’s original design. Evidence, however, from the survey shows that the south chimney
on the second floor chimney was modified very early in its history to accommodate such a
fireplace and therefore the installation of these may have been the work of William Macro
updating updating his father’s house twenty years after it was built.
View of the Market Hill from Abbeygate Street, c.1700 from the collections of Moyes Hall Museum showing Cupolas House (right), the market Cross (centre) and animal market (foreground). Note the tall chimney rising from behind the front ridge of the double pile roof
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1. Introduction
The two chimney stacks of the Grade I listed, 17th century, Cupola House were surveyed as
part of the ongoing recording work related to the reconstruction programme following the fire in
2012. During the aftermath of the fire both chimneys were truncated for reasons of safety; the
north chimney at the second floor hearth and the south one at the third floor (attic) hearth. It is
estimated that at least 3-4m has been lost from their full extents but despite this the recorded
heights were still more than 10m and 14m respectively. Extensive cracks at ground floor level in
the north chimney and in the vaulted brickwork that linked the two halves of the south chimney
were under the scrutiny of structural engineers at the time of the survey to determine how much
of the chimneys could be saved.
This report provides a written analysis along with a drawn and photographic record of each
chimney at English Heritage Level 3 (2006). The recording was undertaken at the request of the
St Edmundsbury Borough Council Conservation Officer and followed an outline brief by the
project’s architects Purcells.
2. Archaeology and historical background
Cupola House was built in 1693 by Thomas Macro, an apothecary, gentleman farmer, town
elder and a self-made man of fortune. He chose to build his house in a prominent location,
facing the then Market Cross, of what had become a highly fashionable town (Fig.1). The house
is based around a timber-frame with a stucco-façade and panelled rooms; the layout and
outward appearance of the building was very much à la mode for the late 17th century-early
18th century. Macro’s House seems to have been a complete new construction but incorporated
timbers from an earlier building.
The chimney survey indicates that some of the earliest fireplaces were remodelled at the
beginning of the building’s life so that the style of the house as we perceive it today, with the
deeply moulded fireplaces and panelling, is likely to reflect a modernisation, probably by
Macro’s son William, at the start of the 18th century.
The house was originally built four years after the repeal of the Hearth Tax which was levied on
each fire-hearth or stove in all dwellings. The tax was at the rate of one shilling per fire which
was collected twice yearly from 1662 -1689 and was payable by the occupier. In a seeming act
of exuberance following the repeal of this tax, Cupola House was built with fifteen fireplaces.
The tax returns for Suffolk in 1674 showed that of the 29,125 households in the county only 453
(1.5%) had ten or more hearths; mostly in houses that belonged to people who bore a title and
of these 85% were built before the tax had been introduced (Martin 1999).
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A) A plan showing the prominence of Cupola House’s (outlined in red) position within the commercial centre of the town; it is located at the centre of the early medieval Great Market (shaded pink) which occupied an entire block within Abbot Baldwin’s gridded street plan.
Figure 1. Site location of Cupola House shown on A) the modern Ordnance Survey and B) Tho. Warren’s Map of the town
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B) Thomas Warren’s map of Bury St Edmunds dated1747 showing Cupola House (outlined in blue) surrounded by the various produce markets and buildings of commerce. On the map number 16 is The Market Cross 15 is The Shambles 13 is The Wool Hall … .and 14 is the Gaol
Figure 2. Cellar plan showing the location of the north and south chimneys in red,north is to the left
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South chimney
North chimney
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3. Methodology
The chimney survey comprised a Level 3 record as defined in the English Heritage guidelines
Understanding Historic Buildings (2006). Where accessible each elevation of the chimney and
cross-sections were recorded by measured drawing and photographs taken using an 8.2
megapixel digital camera. A metric scale was included in the photographs where possible and
dimensions, building fabrics and any surface treatments or decorations noted. Access to parts
of the chimneys was limited and for the eastern half of the south chimney it was restricted to the
basement level. The survey/analysis did not extend to the examination of the surviving timber
frame other that its relationship with the chimney.
Scale drawing are presented in the report in Figures 3-10 together with a selection of annotated
photographs at the end of the report; photographs and data from SCCAS archives of a previous
pre-fire survey have been included where relevant.
4. Analysis of the chimneys
The two chimneys are contemporary and part of the original fabric of Cupola House and were
constructed in conjunction with the raising of the original timber-frame in 1693. Both chimneys
are constructed in plain, ‘handmade’ bricks, made from an orange-red firing clay, which
measured 8½" x 4⅛" x 2⅛"; the same size and fabric-type as those used to construct large
parts, but not all, of the cellar walls.
The ground plan of the house fills the entire plot apart from a small open yard inset into the
south east corner at the rear of the house. The building’s layout is one of a front and rear range
spanned by a double-pile roof; above what was the ground floor shop; the front range is in three
bays with a central stair and landings separating the two unequal-sized chambers on each floor.
The rear range, above the ground floor hall and parlour, comprised a large room on the first and
second floors (which have been interpreted as a banqueting and ballroom respectively) with an
accompanying smaller ante-room off each one to the north. The two chimneys are located
towards the north and south ends of the building along the mid-axis between the front and rear
ranges; their west faces aligned with, and are part of, the spine wall that divides the cellar in
two. Including the basement, the house is built over four floors and the chimneys serve
opposing fireplaces, facing front and back on each of the main floors and, in the case of the
north chimney, a basement kitchen fireplace in the rear half of the house.
The north chimney is a single stack sub-divided into flues for each fire, whereas the southern
one is strictly-speaking two chimneys; closely spaced and buttressed together by arches at the
floor levels that come together under a single stack at attic level. On each of the main upper
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floors the space between the southern chimney’s two halves provided an exclusive corridor,
separate from the main stair, between the private chambers at the south west (front) corner of
the house and the reception rooms at the back. Both north and south stacks exit the roof behind
(east of) the front ridge of the double roof; at this level only the western faces are within the
building and therefore only the front attic rooms were heated.
The designs of the chimneys were integral to the structure of the timber frame and each
incorporates stepped shoulder and projecting corbelled ledges on which the timbers that
support the floor joists bear. The brick-built half arches that support the ground floor hearths (Pl.
4) could only have been built when the floor frame was in place but in other instance the
sequence is reversed suggesting that the bricklayers and carpenters worked together as the
two elements of the building rose at the same time. The unstruck mortar against the exterior
wall on the south chimney (Pl. 37) implies that the bricks were laid ‘over-hand’ by bricklayers
working from inside the building perhaps after the timber-framed wall was already in existence.
Timber ‘bonds’ (wide, horizontal planks) were built into the each fireplace pier; the bonds were
the same thickness as a brick course and inserted at an equal spacing dividing each pier into
three. The timbers passed, front to back through the full thickness of the fireplace and, in a
period when the trusted building technology was timber-framing, acted both to tie the brickwork
together and provided a fixing point for panelling/wainscot or fire surrounds that were attached
to the face of the chimney. The presence of the bonds also indicated that apart from in the
kitchen and stores in the basement the brickwork was intended to be covered (by either
panelling, in wood or painted stretched canvas, or plaster) and in all instances the brickwork
around the fireplaces and on the chimney breasts was plain and showed no evidence of surface
dressing or painting.
Similarly the bressumers spanning the fireplaces rested on timber pads and in all but the first
floor fireplaces of the north chimney these were still in place demonstrating that the beams, as
recorded, were originals that had not been altered or re-set. The top face of the bressumers
were tapered towards each end creating a thicker slight arched-back at their centre to resist the
forces bearing upon them; tile courses laid above the bressumers at each were used to regain
the horizontal.
The only fireplace left in its original form is probably the basement kitchen, this would only have
been a simple opening but the bressummer beam was unmolested. The attribution of the
‘Queen Anne style’ deep bolection-moulded fireplaces, of which only the south chimney ground
floor example survives, was uncertain when recorded in 2003 (Pls. 24, 25, 32, 38 and 42); this
style of moulding dates from the turn of the 18th century and therefore could be considered as
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part of the house’s original design. Evidence from the survey however shows that the south
chimney on the second floor chimney was modified, very early in its history, to accommodate
such a fireplace (Pls. 35 and 36) and therefore the installation of these fireplaces may have
been the work of William Macro updating his father’s house twenty years after it was built.
Drawings of each of the chimneys have been reproduced in Figures 3-10 Their appearance in
each room is described by floor below and with a series of annotated plates at the back of the
report.
The north chimney
In the basement the footprint of the chimney measured 3.8m x 2.50m. The front (west) face is in
a vertical plane but diminishes at each floor level in a series of steps, to the north, south, and
east sides. The chimney is located within its own narrow bay in the timber-framing and the
stepped reduction in the width of the chimney provides shoulders, bearing points for transverse
beams, which link the framing either side of the chimney and axial timbers that support the floor
joists. Just below ground floor level the brickwork of the front and rear face is corbeled out to
form a hearth and push the principle timbers away from the fire (Pl. 4). At basement level the
chimney is integral with the north wall of the cellar and at ground level it would have formed part
of the north wall, but from the first floor up it is wholly enclosed within the walls of the house. As
the chimney gets narrower space for progressively larger closets alongside it increases floor by
floor.
Almost none of the original north wall of Cupola House remains and the current one is simply
the reverse of the neighbouring property. Most of the wall had been replaced during alterations
that pre-dated the 2012 fire, but the original sill beam, with the mortises containing the broken-
off end of the wall studs, still rests on the top of the north cellar wall (Pl.12) and a miscellany of
detached studs and rails, no longer tied into the rest of the floor framing, remained in the void
alongside the chimney beneath the first floor (Pl.13c). Sandwiched between the chimney and
the neighbouring property at ground level was a fragment of a building that was already in
existence when the chimney was built. The wall fragment, part of Cupola House’s medieval
neighbour, had been sliced through flush with the face of the chimney but a mid-rail with the
lower studs and infill panelling of wattle daub still remain to show how the wall was composed
(Pls. 13a and b). The (exterior) face against the side of the chimney was finished with plaster
demonstrating that Cupola House was constructed alongside an existing building. More
substantial remains of the framing for the north neighbouring property also exist at the back of
the building (Pl. 13c).
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Basement
Kitchen: The basement floor has been poured in concrete, raising the level and giving the
kitchen fireplace a squat appearance (Pl. 1). The bressumer is in its original setting and retains
its full thickness unlike many of those exposed on the upper floor rooms where they have been
altered to accommodate late fire inserts. The front face corner above the south end of the
bressumer was originally set back from the current plane, but was built up, along with the face
of the arch over the corridor, by the addition of a facing course of bricks, to be flush with the
chimney breast. The depth of the fireplace was reduced when a later fireback was added in the
20th century. The timber structure of the ground floor (lost in the 2012 fire) had been altered or
completely renewed probably at the end of the 19th century and the corbelled brickwork on the
front face of chimney had been chopped away and was replaced with pockets cut into the east
face of the chimney for the joist ends (Pl. 15). A much narrower flue was built inside the
chimney (Pl. 2) in the 20th century along with a new fireback which has reduced the fireplace
depth; the brick shaft, which now contained a modern liner, was supported on iron bars lodged
into the opening. The original smoke blackened interior is visible in the north half of the flue and
its interior did not have the lime pargetting seen at the top of the stack (Pl. 20).
Basement store (front): The west face of the north and south chimneys is on the same plane
and integral with the spine wall that divides the front from the rear cellars. At the base of the
north chimney is a 1.9m wide and 0.9m deep alcove beneath a segmental arch of ‘soldier
bricks’ (Pl. 3); the basements beneath the front of the house were used as storerooms and the
alcove would have provided both valuable space as well as a saving in bricks. There is a large
horizontal timber inset above the arch at 1.4m. This is higher than the bressumer on the east
side and appears to act simply a strainer, tie or point of attachment; there is no indication that
the arched recess was a modification of an earlier fireplace. The ground floor structure of the
front range is original; arched brickwork extends out from the face of the chimney and, to
prevent its collapse, bears against the axial floor beam (Pl. 4). The arch forms a sill for the
hearth above and ensures the joist ends and the axial beam that supports them were away from
the site of the fire. The arch would have had to have been constructed when this part of the
framing was in place and this demonstrates the inter-connected nature of the two elements of
the building.
Ground floor,
The rear parlour: The ‘Elizabethan-style’ stone fire surround in the ground floor is a later insert
and probably the result of an ‘Art and Crafts’ inspired remodelling of the room at the start of the
20th century (Pl. 14). The inserted fireplace is smaller than the original opening and is
supported on sandstone blocks, which rest on the original hearth level (Pl. 15) and is packed
around with cement secured with lengths of angle-iron. The rails of the room panelling, fixed to
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the timber bonds in the piers, survive to the left of the fireplace and over the breast are
contemporary with the fire surround and the partitioning off of the main stair. The internal sides
of the fireplace are faced with a series of blue and white, tin-glazed, Dutch-style tiles; these are
130mm x 130mm square and 7-8m thick. The decorative designs include landscapes, boats
and nautical scenes, military figures on horseback and children at play whilst the variety of
corner motifs comprise stylised carnations, ‘spider heads’ and ‘barred ox-heads’. The mix of
designs appears to be random and the bottom and inside rows have been cut to fit. The designs
represented were produced from the mid-18th century to the 1930’s but the (lack of) thickness
of these examples would suggest that they are probably no earlier than the mid-19th century.
Similar collections of tiles, in similar settings, have been recorded in fashionable London houses
(e.g. Dora House in Kensington and Chelsea which was built in 1822 (Betts and Weinstein
2010)). The tiles form significant group which require specialist examination and cataloguing.
Behind the tiled fireplace the original opening was 2.05m wide and 1.62m high and there was
evidence that the internal face was plastered. The bressumer is original and chamfered with
plain stops on its underside. The right hand end of the beam has been cut away along with the
face of the brick pier below, an event that probably related to the demolition of Cupola House’s
north wall. Above the bressumer the left (south) side of the chimney rises vertically whereas the
right side was stepped to accommodate the original framing of the north wall; the wall is almost
completely gone but a few detached and redundant timbers remain trapped in the void
alongside the chimney (Pl. 13c).
The front shop: The original fireplace and the chimney breasts in the ground floor front room are
exposed, de-nuded of the fire-surround and wall coverings it once had as evidenced by the
bonds set with the piers (Pl.10). The fireplace is 2m wide and 1.6m high, the opening has been
increased by the chopping back of the underside of the bressumer beam. Internally the flue was
blocked in the 20th century with bricks built off a studwork frame inserted just above bressumer
level. The fireplace was 70cms deep, the fireback is original and its central section is rebated;
the hearth floor was covered and unviewable.
Two shelved niches were recessed into the south side of the chimney, these are a discovery
that is a result of the current work; one is 60cms wide whilst the other is 24cms. The niches are
original to the construction of the chimney but had been modified by the later addition of shelves
and internal plaster (Pl.11). The niches were located at the base of the stairs and revealed after
the removal of the early 20th century wood panelling and the stud wall that latterly divided off
the stairwell. The niches were however separated by a vertical wooden stud built into the south
face of the north chimney suggesting that they may have once been either side of a partition.
Remains of an early plaster surface existed on the south chimney face.
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First floor
Front bedchamber/parlour: The first floor front bed-chamber had a 19th century brick-built insert
with cast iron fireplace inset into the original opening (Pl. 17). The insert projected
approximately one brick length forward of the original face and obscured completely the left
hand pier. Adding the insert required the removal of the bressumer and over the right pier the
resultant void was infilled with brick. The insert underpins the chimney breast and, over the fire,
a new sloping hood section was added. The remodelling that changed the fireplace in the 19th
century extended to the whole room and the 17th century wall, which divides the room from the
landing, was also lathe and plastered over obscuring an earlier lime-washed plaster below; the
wall is interesting in that it divides a blind window, part of the symmetry of the front façade.
Rear room, ante-chamber to the first floor dining room: Much of the fireplace in the rear room
was altered in the 19th or early 20th century and little of the original survives (Pl. 18). The
bressumer beam was raised by 50cms and the inner face of the right (north) pier was cut back
and replaced with later brickwork reducing the overall width of the pier. The flue has been
blocked and the fireback glazed with modern tiles obscuring any details whilst the hearth floor
has been re-laid in cement over the original. The original axial beam for the first floor remains
intact just below the hearth, lodged on a stepped ledge created by the chimney’s diminishing
thickness. The timber is mortised for a ‘cogged joist with diminished shoulders’ a style
contemporary with the end of the 17th century.
Second floor
The north chimney truncated at the second floor level, at approximately fireplace mid-height,
and at least 5-6m of the chimney height has been lost which includes the complete floor of a
heated attic room above (Pl. 19). At this level a cross section of the chimney can be seen; it is
divided into six flues, one for each of the fireplaces served by the chimney. The brickwork
dividing the chimney was laid in a rat-trap bond and not keyed into the main chimney wall but
butted against the inner face. All of the flues coated with lime pargetting (Pl. 20) and the voids
between the flues (where object related to superstitions might be found) were infilled with mortar
rubble. The now lost second and third floor fireplaces were photographed in 2003 and these
images have been included in the report (Pls. 21 and 22)
The south chimney
The southern chimney is in two halves; separate structures which come together beneath a
single stack at roof level. The chimneys are joined together at first and second floor levels by
brick-built arches which, on the upper storeys, supported the floors of the narrow corridors that
linked the high status private chambers at the front of the house to the ‘upper function’ rooms at
the rear. In plan, the relationship of the rear half of the house to the front is off-set, originally to
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create a small yard at the south east corner of the plot, and the rear chimney is approximately
triangular so that the fireplaces are angled across the south west corner of the ground, first and
second floor rear rooms. The chimney’s back was built against the timber-frame of the rear
range’s south external wall; the framing is not tied into the rear wall of the chimney which
appears to have been constructed ‘over-hand’ after the frame was in place (Pls. 23 and 37).
The south chimney was truncated at 13.92m following the fire; one storey level higher than the
north chimney. Whilst the ground and the first floor of the front range remained to some extent
unscathed the rear range was completely gutted by the fire; there were no surviving
intermediated floors and because of the lack of access close inspection of the south-west face
of the chimney was impossible.
Basement
The basement is divided by a spine wall that runs north-south with the two kitchens (one heated
and one a cold store/dairy) in the rear range and the shop’s extensive storage area to the front.
The spine wall is integral with the west faces of the chimneys which are in effect located in the
rear half of the house. The space between the front and rear cellar rooms (the depth of the
chimneys) is taken up by the internal stairwell to the ground floor and cupboards; these are
partitioned by a combination of original and inserted brick walls in combination with timber-
framed ones and all show evidence of a re-configuration of the basement’s ground plan (Pls. 6,
7, 8 and 9). At the base of the south chimney, tall, blind alcoves (1.75m x 1.20m x 0.9m deep)
beneath segmental arches were recorded on both front faces (Pls. 5 and 7). On the west side
(front) the basement was part of the extensive storage area beneath the shop and to the right of
the opening is a narrow L-shaped storeroom which extends behind/between the two halves of
the south chimney. On the floors above this was a through-route between the front and rear
ranges but in the basement the brickwork on the north end was blocked by brickwork from the
outset side of the chimney and it has always been blind. The doorway to the store is spanned
by a timber lintel; this is probably a later adaptation as the use of lintels is in contrast to the arch
headed openings that pierce the cellar brickwork elsewhere. All of the cellar brickwork was
coated in a thick white paint which obscured details.
Ground floor front: The ground floor front survived the fire and the existing panelling covering
the chimney was in place. The fireplace retains the original/early 18th century deep, bolection-
moulded surround in stone. The cast iron fireplace and basket are an early 19th century
insertion and the panelling is largely reproduction (Pl. 24).
Ground floor rear: The rear chimney was stripped back to the brickwork by the fire. The chimney
projected forward into the room and the chimney sides and bresummer beam ends were set at
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a shallow angle to meet the room’s south and west walls (Pl. 25). The timber pads beneath the
bressumer indicated that the beam had not been disturbed and a timber bond for the
attachment of a wall covering was built into the chimney breast. Below floor level the face of the
chimney was scarred where the projecting arched brickwork had been chopped back when the
floor structure was altered in the past. The fireplace was boarded over to protect the remains of
a wooden, bolection-moulded fire-surround. The face of the bricks on the chimney breast that
had been concealed behind the panelling were sooted and in contrast with those on the south
wall which were not. The brickwork south wall and the chimney are not keyed together although
the brick sizes and fabrics suggested that they were contemporary.
The corridor that passes between the two halves of the chimney had been widened by 35cms,
probably around the turn of the 20th century, by chopping away the back of the rear chimney,
and the corners at its entrances were rounded to improve flow. At ceiling level the brickwork
above the removed section was supported on an inserted timber; a large re-used beam with
mortises for joining timbers.
First Floor
Front parlour: The front first floor room is the best preserved and retains stratified layers of
historic decorative features including original panelling and flock-printed wallpaper from the 18th
century with earlier designs beneath (Pl. 26). The fireplace is painted marble and was added in
c.1800; it is slightly off-set from the original fireback which is curving and blackened with coal
tar, the rebated section of the fireback betrays the centre-line of the original opening. The
chimney and the east wall of the room was originally wood panelled; over the fireplace the
panelling extended to a height of c.50cms and above this the chimney was likely to have been
covered with stretched canvas (a painting!). To the left (south) of the fireplace the panelling
included a blocked door to the passageway which gave discrete access to the dining room
behind this room in the rear range. The passage way was reconfigured at the turn of the 19th
century; the original panel door was blocked off and replaced with a door to the right of the fire
and the reverse of the original infilled with bricks (Pl. 23c).
The passageway between the chimney’s two halves was 80cms wide with a dropped ceiling
concealing an arch head above. The corridor was furnished with shelved niches built into the
north and south sides of the front chimney (Pl. 29) and a small cupboard built into the back of
the rear chimney (Pl. 28). The south niche and the corridor cupboard are original and the lintel
and jambs of the cupboard were rebated for doors. This suggests it was lockable and its
position set in the chimney meant that it was free from damp. The niche in the north face is an
early 19th century addition created when this side of the chimney was widened by the addition
of a secondary skin of brick. The top of the later brickwork provided a ledge to locate a dropped
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suspended ceiling (Pl. 27) and at the bottom was built off a first floor joist. The suspended
ceiling greatly reduced the ceiling height and created a 50cm high void between it and the floor
above. The corridor was lit at the south end by a window that looked out over the inset yard at
the back of the house (Pl. 28).
Second floor
Rear range, ballroom: The second floor fireplace was angled across the south west corner of
the rear room. It was narrower than the first floor chimney and fireplace and the face and east
side of the chimney were stepped back from that of the floor below to provide a setting for the
floor timbers. The south and north side of the sides of chimney retained areas of early lime-
plaster, (Pls. 23c and 31) along with the linking corridor, indicating that the ballroom was
rendered prior to the installation of moulded timber panelling in the early 18th century. This is
confirmed by a photograph taken of the chimney in 2003 (Pl. 32) which shows plaster behind
the panelling above and to the left of a timber, bolection-moulded fire-surround. The loss of the
later inserted fireplace exposed the curving and sooted fireback of the original.
Front bedchamber: The fire had removed all traces of the chimney covering in the front bed
chamber, exposing the bare-brick structure, but the cast iron fireplace that was added in the
early 18th century remained (Pl. 35). The fire was built into a brick insert which was slightly
proud of the original opening and obscured the part of the south and the entire north pier. The
bricks of the fireplace insert were similar to those that make up the chimney suggesting that the
alteration to the fireplace was closely dated to the original and the fireplace that was located
here was of an early 18th century design (Pl. 38).
The bressumer beam is original and has remained undisturbed; it did not extend across the full
with the chimney and the fireplace appeared to be positioned left of centre, but this to
accommodate a small ancillary flue built onto the chimney’s south side. This secondary flue
serviced a small, south facing fireplace in a tiny ante-room (the ‘wig room’) located at the end of
the narrow linking passageway (Pl.35).
A semi-circle of 30cm radius and centred on the apex of the bressumer beam was incised into
the face of the brickwork on the chimney breast (Pl. 36). This is a favoured location for
protection symbols but whether it is an atropropaic mark or something more prosaic is unknown;
the design is unfamiliar to the author but this was the only unaccountable marking seen in the
building. The chimney brickwork was designed to be covered and this mark therefore has
always been concealed.
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The wig room: The flue serving the small fireplace was contemporary with the original chimney
stack although the fireplace piers have been altered to accommodate a replacement, and
raised, iron lintel (Pl. 35). The fireplace was 60cms wide and 83cms high with a stone hearth;
the lintel had been raised by c.15-20cms and lined with cement. Above the fireplace the
chimney was plastered but later in the 18th century was lined with moulded wood panelling. The
panelling was drawn in 2003 and the records are held in the SCCAS archives.
The wig-room was a small ‘closet-sized’ ancillary room alongside the chimney, well-appointed
with moulded wood-panelling and a fireplace; it was closed off from both the bed-chamber and
the linking corridor by doors at each end. It has been suggested (Aitkens 1999) that its function
was for the donning and powdering of wigs, the final act of formal dressing before entering the
ballroom at the back of the house. Its attachment to the second floor front room indicates that
this was the ‘best’ bed-chamber and likely to be that of Thomas (or William) Macro himself.
The corridor at this level is 60cms wide with an arch-vaulted ceiling, plastered and painted
white, and a suspended wooden floor; this has now gone but the level can be determined by
traces of skirting board and the inset bonds to which the floor was attached. A small niche was
set high into the rear wall of the east half of the chimney and lined with boards. There was no
indication of doors as with the similarly placed cupboard in the equivalent passageway of the
floor below.
Third Floor
The surviving top of the chimney at third floor (attic room) level and, because of the slope of the
roof, at this height only the west (front) was within a room. The hearth of the attic fireplace
projected forward of the chimney face and was supported on corbelled bricks whilst the north
and south faces were stepped back at floor level to provide a setting for the joists (Pl. 40). The
attic fireplace was photographed in 2003 and despite being an attic room it was furnished with a
decorative moulded surround (Pl. 42) which compared favourably to the utilitarian fireplace of
the adjacent north attic room (Pl. 22).
From the second floor ceiling level, the east (rear) half of the chimney was stepped back, by half
a brick width per course, in order to join the flues of the rear fireplaces with those of the front,
into a common stack (Pl. 39). The chimney was photographed in cross-section at this level (Pl.
41); all of the flues had lime pargetting and all were sooted.
Recommended further work
The ‘Dutch-style’ tin-glazed tiles should be examined by Ian Betts of the Museum of London for
cataloguing and dating. Chimneys and fireplaces were often the location for protection (against
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evil and witchcraft) through carved symbols and placed objects. Symbols and letters were often
etched into bressumers and objects such as bottles, broken glass, shoes and cats secreted into
the chimney voids where spirits may otherwise hide. Any demolition of the chimneys should be
monitored for such objects which will need recording.
David Gill July 2014
5. Figures
Scale 1:50
0 2.50m1.00m
Original line of the north wall of Cupola House
2nd floor level
C19th inserted timber
First floor level
Ground floor levelmedieval timber-frameremains of former
neighbouring house
Concrete floor
Ceiling height
‘bonds’
19-20th century
17th century
Timber framing
Cross-section through neighbouring wall
Figure X. Figure Caption
1
Second floor fireplace
Ground Floor
First floor
Second floorhearth flues
rubble filled voids
framing of neighbouring house
Vertical posts rising from ground floor ?????? level, remains of Cupola House North wall
Ground floor
Ground floor
BasementFirst floor
First floor
axial beam for first floor joists
Figure 3. North chimney west elevation with cross-sections.
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16
Scale 1:50
0 2.50m1.00m
19-20th century
17th century
Timber framing
Cross-section through neighbouring wall
Figure 4. North chimney, east elevation
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Fig 8
Fig 10b
Fig 10a
Fig 9
Fig 6 Fig 7
Plan Scale 1:100
0 5m
Figure 5. South chimney unfolded shoving locations of the detailed elevations (Figs 6-10)
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1.00m 2.00m0
Scale 1:40
exposed C17th brick work
incised mark
C.1800 door blocked in C19th
door added in C19th and corridor re-configured
C.1710-20
third floor level
C17th - early C18th panelling
inserted fireplaces
plaster
Figure 6. South chimney, west face: first, second and third floor fireplaces.
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exposed brick work
EW
plastered face
Third floor level
Second floor level
Sloping flue of NE facing fireplaces
Wig-room fire place
C17th plaster face
C17th panelling
Frame of south exterior wall
First floor level
niche with shelves
Line of east (near) exterior wall
Figure 7. South chimney, south face: first, second floor and third floor.
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Scale 1:40
0 2.00m1.00m
Second floor level
C17th ceiling level
C20th ceiling level
lockable cupboard in corridor brick skin added early C19th
niche with shelves
C17th panelling
C19th ceiling level
line of west wall of first floor‘dining room’
First floor level
E W
exposed brick work
plastered face
Open shelves in corridor
back of front room closet
early C18th fireplace
line of west wall of second floor‘ball room’
1.00m 2.00m0
Scale 1:40
Figure 8. South chimney, south elevation: first, second and third floors
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1.00m 2.00m0
Scale 1:40
Figure 9. South chimney cross-section second floor level
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frame of exterior south wall
former open yard
lockable cupboard
brick skin added in C19th over C17th floor joist
C17th floor joists
C17th panelling
re-used timberwith empty mortises
frame of eastexterior wall
C.1800 fire surround
C19th brickwork blocking earlier door
Second floor
open yard
open yard
flues
exterior walls
Attic floor plan
exterior walls
1.00m 2.00m0
Scale 1:40
Figure 10. South chimney cross-sections at second and third floor level.
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line of corridor
line of corridorrubble-filled
void
‘wig room’fire place
flue to ‘wig room’fire place
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6. Plates North Chimney
North chimney, room B1: Basement kitchen
Plate 1. The basement floor has been poured in concrete, raising the level and giving the kitchen fireplace a squat appearance. The bressumer is in its original setting and retains its full thickness unlike formal rooms where they have been altered to accommodate late fire inserts. The corner above the left end of the bressumer was originally set back, but was built up, along with the face of the arch over the corridor, by the addition of a facing course of bricks, to be flush with the chimney breast. The depth of the fireplace was reduced when a later fireback was added in the 20th century.
Plate 2. The divided flue showing the smoke blacking of the original interior. A much narrower flue was built into the chimney in the 20th century when the fire depth was reduced; the brick shaft, which now contained a modern liner, supported on iron bars lodged into the opening.
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North Chimney Room B3: Basement front storeroom
Plate 3. The alcove beneath a segmental arch of ‘soldier bricks’ at the base of the north chimney on it west side. The basements beneath the front of the house were used as storerooms and the alcove would have provided both valuable space as well as a saving in bricks. The west face of the two chimneys (Pl.7) is on the same plane and integral with the spine wall that divides the front from the rear cellars. There is a large horizontal timber inset above the arch large; its position is higher than the bressumer on the east side and there is no indication that the arched recess was a modification to an earlier fireplace.
Plate 4. Arched brickwork extends out from the face of the chimney and bears against the axial floor to prevent its collapse. The arch forms a sill for the hearth above and ensures the joist ends and the axial beam that supports them are away from the site of the fire. The arch would have had to have been constructed when this part of the framing was in place and demonstrates the inter-connecte nature of the two elements of the building.
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South chimney, room B2: Kitchen store
Plate 5. The alcove at the base of the north east face of the south chimney in the cold kitchen (?)dairy. With a cupboard with a raised floor to the right; the cupboard is partitioned from the cellar stairs by a framed wall, the studs are fixed with simple tennon joints unlike the more sophisticated ones in the rest of the house frame.
Plate 6. Inserted steel stair laid over an earlier timber stringer. The arrangement of the stairwell appears to have been modified in the 18th or 19th century; the studwork to the right of the stair is an inserted wall and conceals a small void with a plastered ceiling and is evidence of an earlier layout. The door between the two basement kitchen rooms on the right is a later addition replacing an original door positioned more centrally in the partition wall. The axial floor beam rests on a shoulder created by the stepping in of the chimney at ground floor and supports the studwork of the west wall of the room above; the mortises for the floor joists are a late 17th century type (cogged with diminished shoulders)
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South chimney, room B5: Front basement storeroom
Plate 7. The alcove in the front cellar storerooms at the base of the west face of the south chimney. The opening to the right is to a narrow L-shaped store which extends behind/between the two halves of the south chimney. The top of the opening has probably been modified to insert the timber lintel, but was obscured by the new steel work.
Plate 8 (left). Plate 8. Space below cellar stairs from front cellar storeroom. The presence of quartered brick ‘closers’ indicate that the right jamb is original but the left side has been cut back and made wider. The partition wall (supporting the electrical boxes) is an addition and simply buts against the west face of the spine wall, the bricks are however similar.
Plate 9 (right). An original barred window in the front wall of the cellar store which would have opened out onto a light-well built into the street (The Traverse) in front of the building.
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North chimney, ground floor front room: Shop
Plate 10. Ground floor fireplace - west face of the north chimney - with the studwork partition added in the 20th century wall to separate the front rooms from the stair well. The underside of the bressumer beam over the fireplace has been cut back reducing its depth and the shallow timber bonds to which the decorative fire surrounds would have been attached can be seen as thin dark bands in the brick piers. Internally the flue was blocked in the 20th century with brickwork built off studwork inserted just above the bressumer level.
Plate 11 (left). Shelved cupboards separated by a vertical stud built into the south face of the north chimney. These were located at the base of the stairs and revealed after removal of the stairwell stud and partition walls. The intermediate shelves and internal plastering are later adaptations; part of the plaster face which predated the moulded panelling can be seen to the right.
Plate 12 (right). The sole plate of the long gone north wall with the remains of studs still in their mortises; the 19th century brickwork to the right is the exterior of the neighbouring building.
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Plates 13. Remains of a timber-framed wall, the remains of the building that formally abutted the north side of Cupola House and survived sandwiched in a void after the previous neighbouring medieval building was replaced. The line of the north wall of the Cupola House would have originally risen from the stepped ledge above the bressumer (left); below this the outer face of the brick pier would have been external (were it not for the neighbouring building). The picture on the left is taken from the west side and shows a cross-section through the earlier neighbouring wall, the horizontal mid-rail is cut off flush with the face of the fireplace just above the bressumer with the lower stud beneath. The original stepped profile of the chimney can be seen in the change of brickwork above the bressumer. The central picture shows the daub infill is applied to vertical roundwood withies tied with cords to split withies fastened with nails to the front face of the studs. The north face is finished with lathe and plastered in panels between substantial horizontal battens to form an internal wall surface to the neighbouring property. The picture on the right is from the east side and shows the charred timbers which survive from the former adjacent building, above the horizontal scaffold pole the sole remains of the north wall of CH can been seen rising up from the fireplace pier.
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North Chimney Ground floor
Plates 14 a) and b). Stone Elizabethan-style fire surround in the ground floor probably inserted into the original opening in the early 20th century. The rails of the panelling survive to the left of the fireplace and over the breast. The face of the brickwork of the right-hand pier has been cut back roughly leaving only the edge of the opening void between the fire surround and the fireplace itself is packed with cement secured with angle iron.
Plate 15. Pocket for the hanging of the ground floor joist cut into the brickwork and built into the base of the hearth as part of alteration and replacement of the floor; presumably a modification contemporary with the fitting of the fireplace in the early 20th century. The changes included the chopping back of the corbelled brickwork from the face of the chimney below the hearth. The inserted fireplace is supported on sandstone blocks (seen behind the scale) which rest on the original hearth level.
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Plate 16. Dutch-style tiles set into the sides of the groundfloor fireplace (top) and detail below. The decorative designs include landscapes, boats and nautical scenes, military figures on horseback and children at play whilst the variety of corner motifs comprise stylised carnations, ‘spider heads’ and ‘barred ox-heads’. The tiles depict designs produced from the mid-18th century to the 1930’s. The early tiles are generally thicker whereas these examples (at 7mm) are likely to be no earlier than the mid-19th century.
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North chimney, F3 first floor
Plate 17. In the front room a 19th century brick-built insert with cast iron fireplace has been inset into the original opening. The insert projects approximately one brick length forward of the original face (right) and obscures completely the left hand pier. Adding the insert included removing the bressumer on the right pier. This this has been replaced with brick and the insert now supports the chimney breast above it.
Plate 18. In the rear room the bressumer originally rested on the timber bond but was raised by 50cms in the 19th or early 20th century. The inner face of the right (north) pier was cut back and replaced with later brickworks reducing the overall width of the pier and the hearth re-laid in cement over the original. The picture on the left shows the timber bond, the original fireplace height, running through the full depth of the fireplace as a charred dark line.
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North chimney, S5 second floor
Plate 19. The north chimney truncated at the second floor level at approximately fireplace mid-height. At least 5-6m of the chimney height has been lost including the complete floor of a heated attic room which was located above this level.
Plate 20. The interior of the north chimney would have been divided into six flues, one for each of the fireplaces served by the chimney. The brickwork dividing the chimney were laid rat-trap bond; they were not keyed into the main chimney wall but butted against the inner face. The flues are coated with lime pargetting. The basement kitchen flue contained a liner and therefore was the most identifiable. The curving back of the second floor fireplace can be seen at the left edge of the picture.
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Plate 21. Late 18th-early 19th century cast iron fireplace and similarly dated surround in the second floor front room photographed in 2003. Behind the dry lining the wall plaster is contemporary with the fireplace and to the left is a moulded plank cupboard door of a design which dates from the 17th-19th century
Plate 22. Arrangement of cupboards and fireplace in the north front attic room photographed in 2003; fundamentally unaltered from the 17th century. This floor level was completely lost in the 2012 fire.
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7. Plates South Chimney
South chimney
Plates 23a), b), and c). General views of the two joined stacks that make up the south chimney; the one sevicing the rear rooms and c) is triangular in plan and built across the SW corner of the rooms (a), the framing of the outerwall is built against its back (c) and faced onto a small rear yard (now infilled with a collection of later building extensions).
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South chimney, ground floor
Plate 24. The fireplace at the front of the building on the ground floor retains the original-early 18th century deep, bolection-moulded surround in stone. The cast iron fireplace and basket are an early 19th century insertion and the panelling is largely reproduction.
Plate 25. Boarded over fireplace across the SW corner in the rear room, the red/orange bricks show the line of the external wall and illustrate that the extent of the fireplace’s projection into the room. The black and white photograph was taken in 2003, the panelling was believed to be original which was re-discovered and restored to the room in 1906. The cast iron grate is of an early design and probably dates to the 18th century.
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South chimney first floor
Plates 26 a) b) and c). The front first floor room is the best preserved and retains layers of historic decorative features and finishes (a); the flock print wallpaper is 18th century and there are earlier designs beneath. The fireplace is painted marble and dates to c.1800 and is slightly off-set from the original fireback. The green wood panelling to the right of the fire is original, over the fire place the panelling extended to a height of c.50cm and above this there would have been a stretched canvas (a painting). The panelling includes a blocked door (b) which was originally the access to the passageway which linked to the room behind. The door was blocked off at the turn of the 19th century the reverse of the original infilled with bricks (c).
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Plate 27. Corridor created from what was once a blind alcove between the front and rear rooms by relocating the door at the start of the 19th century. The reverse of the original timber panelling can be seen above the inserted door and shows the original ceiling height, the modern studwork for the dropped ceiling can be seen to the left of the chimney. Below this has been repointed in cement.
Plate 28. Small cupboard built into the back of the rear chimney located in the passageway that runs between the two halves of the south chimney; the lintel and jambs are rebated for cupboard doors. The wall (pierced by a window) in the centre of the picture is the external wall that would have looked out over the inset yard at the back of the house.
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Plate 29. (left) 17th century open shelves built into the south side of the front chimney; located in the passageway between the two chimney halves behind the block original door. (Right) Empty joist mortises in the first floor front room; the jointing is an early style predating that used on the rear rooms suggesting that timbers salvaged from an previous building were used in the construction of Cupola House.
Plate 30. The first floor front room photographed in 2003 which shows how well this room has survived (compare with Pl. 25). Note the natural finish of the marble fire surround.
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Second Floor
Plate 31. The second floor fireplace across the SW corner of the rear room corner fireplace, showing the stepped profile of the chimney and the original sooted fire back. The face of the chimney is stepped back from that of the floor below to provide a setting for the floor timbers. The plaster face to the right of the fireplace is the entrance to the passageway between the two chimney halves.
Plate 32. The same fireplace photographed in 2003 with the timber original -early 18th century deep, bolection-moulded fire surround and moulded panelling over plaster. The space over the fireplace is supposed to have contained the painting of the interior of the St Mary’s Church shown in Pl.33.(Aitkens 1999)
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Plate 33. Picture from the second floor ballroom of Cupola House now hanging in the north aisle of St Mary’s Church, Bury St Edmunds. The picture shows the interior of St Mary’s and is thought to have been removed to the church in the late 19th century. The painting by an unknown artist was painted in c.1710 and includes figures in contemporary dress.
Plate 34 a and b. The south chimney at second floor level viewed from the north showing the narrow passage way, which divided the two chimney halves on each floor and the corbelled brickwork angling back the rear chimney to a shared stack above the scaffold kickboards (left) and (right) a general view showing the chimney’s relationship with the open stair and landing bay in the foreground.
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Plate 35. The second floor, front room fireplace dating to the early 18th century (left). The fireplace is inserted into and slightly proud of the opening and is positioned left of centre to accommodate a small ancillary flue built onto the south side of the chimney. This secondary flue serviced the small fireplace (photo right) in the tiny ante-room (the ‘wig room’) located at the end of the narrow passageway (behind the warning sign) between this and the dining room at the rear of the building. The wig room fireplace is contemporary with the original chimney stack although the piers have been altered to accommodate a replacement, and raised, iron lintel.
Plate 36. A semi-circle of 30cm radius and centred on the apex of the bressumer, incised into the face of the brickwork. Chimney breasts are favoured locations for protection symbols; this was the only unaccountable marking seen in the building but whether it is an atropropaic mark or something more prosaic is unknown.
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Plate 36 the south wall of the south Chimney
Plate 38. The second floor, front room fireplace photographed in 2003 with the early 18th century bolection-moulded fire surround and contemporary panelled doors. The door to the left gave access to a closet and the one to the right the ‘wig-room’ with its own fireplace then on via the narrow passage way to the second floor ballroom at the rear of the house. This room is thought to be the ‘best’ bed chamber.
Plate 37. The remains of the timber-framing at the rear of the wig room. This would have formed the exterior, rear wall of the front pile and would have over looked the open yard at the back (SE corner) of the house. A framed wall, constructed against the chimney enclosed the brickwork of the south face of the rear half of the chimney now exposed. The unstruck mortar suggests that the bricks were laid over-hand from inside the building perhaps after the timber-framed wall was already in existence.
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Third Floor
Plate 39. The surviving top of the chimney truncated at third floor (attic room) level, south and east faces. The scaffold boards are beneath the ceiling level of the second floor wig room below and the head of the arched passage which passed between the best bedroom at the front and the rear ballroom can just be seen; the underside of the arch was a finished plastered face unlike the dropped suspended ceiling of the equivalent passageway of the floor below. Alongside the scale is the projecting chimney of the wig room fireplace and the corbelled brickwork, by which the east chimney joins with the western one, can be seen on the right.
Plate 40. The top of the chimney on the north and east sides showing the hearth of the attic fireplace projecting forward on corbelled bricks. The north face is stepped back at floor level to provide a setting for the floor timbers.
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Plate 41. The top of the south chimney showing the flues looking east. The curved back of the attic fireplace is shown in the foreground fire with the flues serving the front room fireplaces just behind. The large central rectangular area is a void over the arched passageway and the flues for the east chimney’s three fireplaces are at the far end. All of the flues have lime pargetting and are sooted.
Plate 42. The attic-room fireplace photographed in 2003. The deeply moulded fire-surround and mantle shelf date to the early 18th century whilst the tiled, cast iron crate is late 19th century. The cupboard door are mis-matched but could both date from late 17th century, the one on the right has ornate cockhead hinges and looks to be upside down so was probably been relocated from elsewhere in the house.
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Bibliography
Aitkens, P., 1999, Cupola House, Bury St Edmunds: A Report on the Architectural History Betts, I., M. and Weinstein, R., 2010, Tin-glazed tiles from London. Museum of London Archaeology English Heritage., 2006, Understanding Historic Buildings: a guide to good recording
practice. English Heritage
Martin, E. and Dymond, D. eds., 1999, A Historical atlas of Suffolk. Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History
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