Rose Of Torridge

Description

This information is taken from the statutory List as it was in 2001 and may not be up to date.

BIDEFORD

SS4526 THE QUAY 842-1/5/222 (West side) 08/11/49 No.6 Rose of Torridge

GV II

House, now restaurant and offices. Early or mid C17 (possibly a remodelling of an earlier structure), altered in C19 and with C20 addition at rear. Solid rendered walls (some stone rubble visible internally in ground-storey left side-wall and adjacent rear wall); front of third storey may be timber-framed. Pantiled roofs; there were probably 3 roofing-spans originally, lying at right-angles to the quay, but the right-hand span appears to have been replaced by a flat roof. No chimneys. Double-depth plan, 3 rooms wide. 3 storeys; 3-window range, the top storey jettied and finished with 3 triangular gablets corresponding to the original roofing-spans behind. The ground and second storeys have a pilaster at each end; these may be a C19 addition, but it could be that they are the ends of the side-walls, the timber-framed front wall between them having been rebuilt in brick. At the top of each pilaster, under the jetty, is a large foliated corbel, probably C19. Ground storey has late C19 or early C20 canted display window at each end. Entrance in centre flanked by piers with moulded capitals; 2 angled doors recessed within a lobby, each with a solid moulded panel at the bottom and a glazed upper part with margin-panes. Continuous entablature above both display windows and entrance. In second storey 3 wooden mid C19 canted bay windows with sashes; 4-paned sashes in centre, 2-paned ones at the sides, all with margin-panes. Third storey has mid or late C20 three-light wooden casement windows with transom-lights. Right side-wall (visible from public alley) has C20 wooden casement windows in upper storeys, those in second storey with glazing-bars. 2 short ground-storey window with ogee-moulded wooden mullions, each of 4 lights. The left-hand window has the 3 original centre mullions and the left end-mullion, but the remainder, including both sill and lintel, are C20 replicas; the right-hand window is in a similar condition, except that the original lintel with pegged joints survives. At the right-hand end, just beyond the back of the original building, is a square-headed C17 door-frame with ovolo and hollow mouldings, these finished at the bottom with large vase-stops; the feet of the jambs have been cut off and replaced in replica. INTERIOR: little original work can now be seen, and there are several C20 beams and joists, together with some imitation panelling. The left-hand second-storey front room has an original ovolo-moulded ceiling-beam with no visible stops and a rear square-headed door-frame, also with ovolo mouldings and elaborated scroll-stops; adjoining it in the lobby outside is a matching door-frame with C20 door opening into the left-hand rear room. The left-hand roof-span has old trusses with collar-beams and purlins; middle roof-span not accessible. 2 recesses in the left side-wall may be blocked windows, suggesting perhaps that the building was originally free-standing. Although altered, this building is a type of high-class early post-medieval town house that is rare in Devon. It is likely to contain original fireplaces, partitions (possibly panelled) and door-frames at present concealed by later plastering and boarding. WH Rogers has suggested that this building was erected in 1633 at the rear end of a garden belonging to a house in Allhalland Street. In 1842 Wood's plan shows it as 3 separate properties marked 'Western' but 20 years later (before 1864) it had become the Newfoundland Inn. It was subsequently renamed The Old Ship Tavern. Old photographs show it with a very high parapet, wholly concealing the roof-gables. (Rogers WH: Notes on Bideford (typescript): P.97-8; Fielder D: A History of Bideford: -1985: PLATES 1-2; Goaman M: Bideford in Old Picture Postcards: PLATES 18-20; Wood: Plan: 1842-).

Listing NGR: SS4543826538

Content

This is part of the Series: IOE01/1773 IOE Records taken by Tim Sanders; within the Collection: IOE01 Images Of England

Rights

© Mr Tim Sanders. Source: Historic England Archive

This photograph was taken for the Images of England project