On your left, look for the white-and-black timber-framed building with a steep tiled roof and a jettied upper floor that slightly overhangs the street corner.
This is Curson Lodge… and it’s been quietly standing its ground since the 1400s. If these beams could talk, they’d probably complain about the price of repairs. It’s a 15th-century, Grade II star listed building, sitting around numbers 45 and 45A St Nicholas Street (though the shop number has drifted to 47, because streets love a little chaos).
In 2007, the place got a serious second life, restored with help from the Ipswich Building Preservation Trust, plus support from the Architectural Heritage Fund, Ipswich Borough Council, and English Heritage. Big teamwork… just to keep old wood from turning back into trees.
During that restoration, it picked up the name “Curson Lodge,” linking it to the larger mansion complex of Robert Curson, a Tudor courtier, once stretching across nearby streets almost down to Rose Lane.
When you’re ready, the Unitarian Meeting House is a 3-minute walk heading southwest.
