Summary
Commercial building with a C18 front.
Reasons for Designation
82 High Street is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a distinctive historic commercial building, which contributes strongly to the architectural character and diversity of Bedford’s historic High Street.
Historic interest:
* for the contribution it makes to the evolution of the historic High Street and development of the town.
Group value:
* for its strong functional and historic group value with other listed buildings on High Street.
History
Bedford lies in the shallow valley of the River Great Ouse, and from the Middle Saxon period, evidence appears for the beginnings of a settlement at ‘Beda’s ford’, a key river crossing point. The Middle Saxon core of Bedford developed on the north side of the river with an early street pattern (still recognisable) and was surrounded by a defensive ditch. In the C10 and C11, Bedford was important both as a trading centre, with coins minted in the town, and as the central burh of the shire. The town’s main north-south route, comprising what is now High Street to the north of the river and St Mary’s and St John’s Streets to the south of the river, was developed by this time. After 1066, Bedford became a stronghold of the new Norman regime and during the reign of William II, a motte and bailey castle was built in a strategic position on the north bank of the river and then rebuilt in stone. A period of unrest, however, led to a siege of the castle in 1224 and, when it fell, Henry III ordered it to be dismantled. Despite political struggles, the town experienced a period of consolidation during the Norman and medieval periods, when local commerce flourished and religious houses and hospitals were founded. The population of the town was decimated by the Black Death in the C14, and a new river crossing at Great Barford undermined the local economy by drawing traffic and trade away from the town. There was little further growth and the town was largely contained within its Saxon framework, as can be seen from John Speed’s map of Bedford dated 1610.
The dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII dealt a further blow to the town’s prosperity but its fortunes began to revive with the receipt of letters patent from Edward VI, allowing the foundation of a grammar school. Bedford also benefitted from the River Navigation Act, which made the River Great Ouse navigable between Bedford and King’s Lynn (completed in 1689). The town became the headquarters of Cromwell’s army between 1646 and 1647 and the Puritan influence established during the Civil War lived on after the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 when the town became a centre for non-conformist preachers such as John Bunyan. Despite this prosperity, Bedford remained of modest size through to the end of the C18, as illustrated on Thomas Jefferys’ map of 1765. An Improvement Act in 1803 allowed for the erection of a new river bridge between 1811 and 1813 (widened in 1938), and clearance of the Market Square. Continuing prosperity in the early C19 was accompanied by modest growth, but by far the most dramatic expansion of Bedford followed the building of the Midland Railway in 1873, linking the town with London, and associated industrialisation. In the early years of the C20, some houses in the town centre were replaced by department stores, banks and cinemas to serve the expanding population; The Arcade was built and other properties in and around the centre were converted to shops and offices. The High Street is characterised by narrow three and four-storey frontages, with long buildings, closes and yards occupying medieval burgage plots to the rear, those on the eastern side of High Street being particularly long.
82 High Street was likely constructed in the C18 or may have a C18 front concealing an earlier structure. Thomas Jefferys’ ‘Plan of Bedford’ drawn in 1765 indicates buildings continuously bounded the west side of High Street in the mid-C18. The Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Bedford published in 1884 shows the footprint of the building with a bowed window to the front and two rear projections with a small yard between. A historic photograph of 82 High Street taken in 1870 shows the commercial premises of TP Clare, watchmaker, with a bowed shopfront, a door to the right, and external shutters to the two first-floor windows. The shopfront of 82 High Street was replaced around 1890, with large display windows curving to a recessed entrance right of centre, and a large projecting clock sign between the first-floor windows. Number 82 formerly shared a modillion cornice with number 84 to the north, which was replaced by a taller building in 1925. Following the closure of Clare & Sons in 1956 the late-C19 shopfront was replaced in the mid-C20 and was again replaced around 2014 with a shopfront featuring elements of the late-C19 design.
Details
Commercial building with a C18 front.
MATERIALS: The roof has a plain tile covering, and the brick walls are painted.
PLAN: It is rectangular on plan extending west from High Street.
EXTERIOR: The commercial building is two-and-half storeys in height facing east to High Street. The pitched roof has a plain tile covering, red brick chimneystack on its south gable end, and a box dormer to the attic with casement windows. The first floor has painted brick walls and two margined sash windows with plain lintels. The ground floor shopfront was replaced around 2014.
