Summary
Former house, constructed in the C17, now commercial premises.
Reasons for Designation
80a 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 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.
John Speed’s Map of Bedford (1610) does not appear to show buildings on the west side of High Street where 80a High Street now stands. However, it does appear to have been developed by the time of Thomas Jefferys’ ‘Plan of Bedford’ in 1765, and certainly by the publication of Cole and Roper’s map of Bedford around 1801. A photograph of the building taken in 1870 shows a rendered front with a plain tiled pitched roof, a box dormer containing a three-over-three pane timber sash window, an eight-over-eight pane timber sash window to each of the ground and first floors, external shutters to the ground floor window, a four-panelled door to the right, and a small window to a basement. A historic photograph of the street taken around 1926 indicates a shopfront was added in the late C19; it was later replaced in the mid-C20, before being restored around 2015 with a window to the right of the shopfront in the position of a former door.
Details
Former house, constructed in the C17, now commercial premises.
MATERIALS: the roof is plain tiled and the walls are rendered.
PLAN: it is rectangular on plan and faces east to High Street.
DESCRIPTION: 80a High Street is two and a half storeys in height, with a pitched plain tiled roof, and a box dormer containing a three-over-three pane timber sash window (replaced around 2015). The first floor has an eight-over-eight pane timber sash window (also replaced around 2015). The late-C19 shopfront was much restored around 2015, with a fascia flanked by console brackets, over three panelled pilasters, which frame three display windows over a low stallriser and a recessed glazed door. To the right of the shopfront, a plain flat-arched window was introduced around 2015 in place of a former door.
