Bury St Edmunds historian Martyn Taylor looks back at the former William Barnaby almshouses in the town’s College Street

Prominently positioned in College Street, Bury St Edmunds, there is a terrace of former almshouses which date from 19th century but which have an interesting history, with their name alone stretching back to the 16th century.

The story of the William Barnaby Almshouses begins with a member of the noble Kytson family of Hengrave.

Sir Thomas Kytson, a very wealthy merchant who had been born in Warton, Lancashire, in 1495 started to build Hengrave Hall around 1525. He went on to be knighted, becoming sheriff of London in 1533, eventually completing the hall similar to an embattled manor house in 1538.

Sir Thomas, with his wife Margaret née Donington, had five children - one son and four daughters.

One of the daughters, Frances, who was born in 1529, married a John Bouchier, Lord Fitzwarrin, 2nd Earl of Bath, on December 11, 1548. They had a son in 1557, William Bouchier, who became 3rd Earl of Bath on the death of his father. This year was a momentous year for Frances because not only did she give birth to William, her son, but after a long period of marriage her husband died.

Whether her son was born before the death of her husband or after, there is a possibility that the boy could have been the result of an affair she may have had with a William Barnaby, because Frances wasted no time in marrying him at Great Saxham where he lived. Co-incidentally, this man was also born in 1529.

William Barnaby was the steward of Hengrave Hall and also land-agent to the Earl of Bath. Obviously Frances knew this man well enough to know he could provide for her and her infant son, going to live at his home the Manor House, Great Saxham.

William Barnaby was also sufficiently wealthy enough to purchase messuages (houses and outbuildings) on the eastern side of College Street for the poor, two to be rented out for income to maintain them. He munificently bequeathed them as almshouses for the poor in 1571, for eight women and eight men.

He pre-deceased Frances, who died in 1586. She was buried at Tawstock, in North Devon, the seat of the Bouchier family.

As time went by, the houses fell into disrepair until local builder William Steggles rebuilt them - now four home - in 1826 (a roundel plaque confirms this).

The almshouses were built on the 16th century foundation with Woolpit White bricks, much favoured by the Steggles, and with stone quoins, dressings and hooded string-courses above the Tudor-style windows with ornate window panes. As was common in this period less expensive red bricks were used at the rear.

William Steggles and his son, also called William, were prolific builders during the 19th century, operating yards in the Brentgovel Street area and also owning a great deal of property in the town.

William Steggles senior, died at the respectable age of 79 in 1834.

The Steggles family businesses were certainly diverse – surveyors and masons amongst others. Perhaps the Steggles pièce-de-resistance was that of Eastgate Bridge built in 1840 by William jnr and still with us today.

Later, the terrace facing College Street fell into disrepair and local family builders Shillitoe & Sons (Thomas Shillitoe, of 6 College Lane, was town mayor in 1899) used them for storing materials. In 1925, Edwin Underwood and Albert Marlow opened a timber company in Bury and their business occupied part of the William Barnaby almshouses, 1954-1978. It also led to a showroom for bathrooms and sanitary ware in Churchgate Street. The ‘ghost writing’ of TIMBER MERCHANTS MARLOW & CO LTD BUILDERS SUPPLIES can still be seen on the College Street facade.

During the 1960s, Edwin’s son Ken and two grandsons Philip and Michael expanded the business and eventually new premises and yards were built in Hollow Road. Part of the very busy timber company manufactured roof gang trusses and was eventually sold off to Howarth’s Timber Engineering.

In 1980 F W Cocksedge & Sons (Fred, Robert and Teddy) of Mildenhall refurbished the almshouses, with surveyor Charles Morris remembered on a small brick low down on the southern end of the building. Now Grade II-listed, these ex-almshouses, 8-11 College Street, are desirable properties with nine others built into the old yard to the rear, now known as William Barnaby Yard. Note the Bury In Bloom Best Residential Street plaques!

— Martyn Taylor is a local historian, author and Bury Tour Guide. His latest book, Bury St Edmunds Through Time Revisited, is widely available.