Summary
Former post office, built in the early C19, now a shop.
Reasons for Designation
77 and 79 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 High Street;
* for the architectural quality of its classical façade, which is enlivened by cornices, pediments, half columns, and decorative balconettes.
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 historic and functional 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.
77 and 79 High Street was built in the early C19 as commercial premises, on the site of earlier buildings. John Speed’s Map of Bedford (1610), Thomas Jefferys’ Plan of Bedford (1765) and Cole and Roper’s map of Bedford (around 1801) all show structures on the east side of High Street where 77 and 79 High Street now stands. The building is shown as a post office on the Ordnance Survey (OS) Town Plan of Bedford published in 1884, with a garden featuring a fountain to the rear. Number 77 was recorded as a post office in 1885, and Kelly’s Directory in 1890 recorded number 77 as having multiple uses a post office, inland revenue office, commercial premises of Dickens Bros, tea, wine and spirit merchant, and accountant office. The building appears to have ceased use as a post office in the late C19 and was subdivided into two commercial units at the turn of the C20. It is shown as two units on the 1901 OS map, and historic photos of High Street taken in the C20 show one unit in the north two bays and one unit in the south three bays. The building was refurbished in 2016, and a single shopfront was restored with two Tuscan columns reintroduced to the right of centre.
Details
Former post office, built in the early C19, now a shop.
MATERIALS: the roof has a Welsh slate covering, and the walls are constructed of stuccoed red brick with stone columns.
PLAN: the building is roughly rectangular on plan and faces west to High Street.
DESCRIPTION: The early C19 commercial building is three storeys in height and has a shallow-pitched slate roof. The front (west) elevation to High Street has five bays, the central three of which break forward slightly at first- and second-floor levels. The walls are stuccoed, with a projecting modillion cornice and entablature over six giant Corinthian half columns which span the first and second floors. A plain entablature divides the ground and first floors, and the ground floor shopfront is framed by 6 Tuscan half columns. The windows are arranged 1:3:1 with casement windows in architrave surrounds, those on second floor being eared. The outer windows on the first floor have cornices on consoles, and the central window has a triangular pediment on consoles. The outer bays and central bay of the first floor have French doors with balconettes bearing cast-iron anthemion decoration. The ground floor shopfront was refurbished around 2016, with two Tuscan columns reintroduced to the right of centre.
