Few villages of around 250 people have a castle, a poet and 23 listed buildings. Lidgate has all three. It lies on the B1063 between Newmarket and Clare, in the valley of the River Kennett, which for most of the year is little more than a stream.
Castle earthworks and a poet’s church
Lidgate Castle was probably raised around 1143, during the civil war known as the Anarchy. Only earthworks survive, an unusual square motte and a bailey once ringed by a ditch about 20 metres wide, and the site is a scheduled monument. St Mary’s Church was later built inside the bailey and is listed at Grade II*. The monk and poet John Lydgate was born in the village around 1370 and left his name, with a coded message, scratched into the church wall.
A conservation area since 1973
Much of the village sits within a conservation area of about 45 hectares, first designated in 1973. Of its 23 listed buildings, two are Grade II*: the church, and John-O-Lidgates House, a 16th century timber-framed house with exposed framing, a red brick end gable with crow-stepped detail, moulded brick panelling and a hipped pantile roof. The rest are Grade II, among them the Star Inn, a 17th century timber-framed and plastered building with a red brick stack of diagonally set shafts, Lidgate Hall, Street Farmhouse and a run of cottages along The Street.
Lidgate is in Suffolk, so West Suffolk Council deals with planning here. Inside a conservation area, permitted development rights are reduced, works to trees need six weeks’ notice to the council, and demolition is controlled. Listed buildings bring further consent requirements. It pays to speak to West Suffolk’s planning team before settling on a design, and we can draw up what you need to take to them.
Working on timber frames and old brick
On buildings like these, the skill lies in repair rather than replacement. A sagging beam can often be strengthened in place, decayed sections of a frame spliced with new oak, and old windows repaired by a joiner rather than swapped for something off the shelf. Our carpentry work covers exactly this, and our brickwork team can rebuild chimneys, gables and garden walls in suitable brick and lime-based mortars where the original work calls for them.
Not every Lidgate home is a listed cottage, of course. Where a house needs updating throughout, a full refurbishment can bring heating, wiring, kitchen and bathroom up to date in one coordinated job.
The nearest A&F projects
A&F Building Services has been building since 1993, with design and every trade managed by the same family team. We have not published a Lidgate project. Our nearest case studies are in Newmarket, further west along the B1063, including a new dormer whose lead flashing and pantiles were blended into an existing roof.
