55 High Street
Current
55
High Street
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
History
One of Lowestoft's Our Fallen lived here...
No55 the High Street or to give it's title, Tring Gilbert House in 1865 was the home of James Ray, Surgeon in Lowestoft. By 1900 John Batten Coumbe, surgeon was living at No55, and still to this day this grand house on the High Street is still a private house. On the outside the historical plaque reads as follows: -Associated with the Mighells family George Borrow, the author, is reputed to have ridden his horse through the magnificent Adam doorway in a dispute with Dr Ray owner of the house. The upper floor was probably added during the Victorian period. CREDIT:Crispin Hook
Current Address: 55 High Street Old Address: Not applicable East or West Side: East side When built: A Grade II listed Georgian town house dating from the mid to late 18th century. Noted for its elaborate door case with a “Green Man” on the lintel. Brief history/features: Prior to the construction of this house the following properties are listed on this site in the 1720s, one house and two shops with a yard and fish houses owned by a local merchant named Thomas Mighells. The house and shops replaced an earlier property that was all but destroyed in the great fire of 10 March 1645. This earlier house probably dated from the 16th century and timber traces of it are still visible in the present building. Former Notable Owners: The house destroyed in the fire was owned by another local merchant named Thomas Ashby and its value was estimated at £558 (in excess of £130,000 today). The Mighell family inherited the house and shops from the Ashby family in 1713. For most of the 19th century and into the 20th this house was the home of a number of notable surgeons and doctors. 1841, Samuel S Brame, 1871, James Ray, 1891, Allan H. Jackson, 1911, John Clarke Mead all of whom were GP’s and surgeons. Little known fact: A drawing of the present house dating from the late 18th century depicts a large triangular stone pediment where the three 3rd floor windows can be seen today.
Architecture
In 1720, the messuage of No. 55 High Street was held by Thomas Mighells (merchant) and is described as one house and two shops, with yard and fish-houses, abutting onto the High Street to the west and Whaplond Way (Whapload Road) to the east. The house occupying the plot today is of late 18th century origin and is obviously a replacement of what fronted the street in earlier times. There is a late 16th century cross-wing attached to the rear of the northern half of the house.
In the Manor Roll of 1618, the property was in the tenancy of Thomas Ashby (merchant), with Ralph Fairechild (merchant) named as a previous occupant at some stage. The Ashbys and the Mighells became linked by marriage ties and this was how both the land and its buildings eventually came into the latter's possession.
The messuage was a large and complex one, with part of it abutting onto Lyon Score (later, Crown Score) to the north - meaning that land belonging to properties now occupied by Nos. 52, 53, 54 & 54A High Street had been acquired at some stage. Not only were there fish-houses (for the curing of red herrings) located on the more easterly parts of the enlarged plot, but a tan-house as well. The latter may have had a connection with the production of leather, but it might also have been connected with fishing activity since herring and mackerel drift-nets were soaked in ash or oak bark solution (the agent used in treating cow-hide) as a preservative measure against the corrosive effect of salt-water on the hemp-twine from which they were made..
The Mighells family had held the tan-house portion since 1663, but acceded to the High Street dwelling and the fish-houses in 1713 - thereby consolidating the different elements into a single holding. CREDIT:David Butcher
Surviving internal timber framing
Cellar beneath front of house has substantial mid-late 16th century beams supporting floor above. A 16th/17th century cross-wing to rear of house (northern part) might have visible signs of timber-framing (esp. in roof). CREDIT:David Butcher
TM5593NW HIGH STREET 914-1/8/32 (East side) 13/12/49 No.55
GV II
House, now offices. Late C18. Brick. Roof of concrete tiles. 3 storeys in 3 bays, the 2 ground-floor Venetian windows with glazing bars set within recessed panels under rounded gauged arches. In the centre, also within a recessed panel, is a door with 6 fielded panels below a sheet-glass fanlight with an iron 7-vaned fanlight in front of the glass. The spandrels contain foliage and there is a key-block in the form of a Green Man. A pair of fluted engaged entactic Roman Doric columns support a metope frieze and a hood with guttae. Egg-and-dart decoration here and there. Three 3/6 first-floor sashes under gauged skewback arches. Strong cornice with dentils below second floor, which is lit through three 3/3 sashes, also with gauged skewback arches. Parapet partly conceals gabled roof with one small flat-topped dormer. Partly external gable-end stacks north and south, both re-built. The rear has two 2-storey cross wings. INTERIOR. 6-panelled doors. Open-string stick baluster staircase with scrolled tread-ends and a ramped handrail. The ground-floor north room has a C19 gun-metal chimneypiece in the Jacobean style. Plain cellar. Roof of principals and purlins. CREDIT: Historic England
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