Description

BIDEFORD

SS42NE NEW ROAD
842-1/2/201 (West side)
08/11/49 Old Ford
(Formerly Listed as:
NEW ROAD
Old Ford House)

II*

Formerly known as: Ford Farm.
Detached house: probably a gentleman's house converted to a
farmhouse in C19. Late medieval, possibly C14, with added
medieval cross-wing; extended in late C16; cross-wing
remodelled and further extended in late C17 or very early C18.
Stone rubble. Slate roof, the cross-wing hipped at the front.
Old red-brick chimneys on left gable-wall of hall, and on both
gable-walls of cross-wing. C16 stone-rubble chimney with
tapered cap on right gable-wall.
Plan: single-storeyed late-medieval hall (now lofted) with
through-passage at right-hand end. To right, separated by a
thick wall, a late-medieval cross-wing projecting front and
back; contains C17/C18 staircase with contemporary parlour in
front and service-room behind; addition at rear, probably a
C17/C18 kitchen. On right-hand side, at right-angles to
cross-wing, a late C16 parlour-range, converted to
salting-house probably in C19. To left of hall, beyond rebuilt
gable-wall, a converted barn of C16 or C17.
Hall single-storeyed with loft; remainder 2-storeyed with
semi-basement below front of cross-wing. Hall has doorway to
right with 2-panelled C18 door. Sash-window to left set in a
partly-blocked opening; 12 over 8 panes. Above doorway a
gabled dormer with plain bargeboards; 2-light wood casement
with 2 panes per light. Buttress at left-hand end. Converted
barn to left has 2 windows per storey; all with segmental
stone arches and fixed 4-pane wood sashes. Cross-wing has
buttress at each side of gable; blocked window in each storey;
plank door in basement with plain wood frame.
Sash-windows in both side-walls and in front of C16 addition,
the wider ones with margin-panes; upper-storey windows rise
slightly above eaves-level and have pent-roofs.
In rear wall of hall a 4-light limestone window with
flat-splay mullions (2 missing) and straight hood-mould;
probably partly restored in C19. Rear wall of cross-wing has
2-light wood-mullioned window: ogee mullions, later 9-paned
wood casements. In gable a stone plaque inscribed WC 1733.
Flanking chimneybreast in gable-wall of C16 addition are 2
second-storey slit windows, the sharply-pointed openings cut
from single pieces of wood.
INTERIOR: hall has late medieval smoke-blackened roof with 2
raised-cruck trusses on wooden pads; chamfered arch-braces,
cranked collars, butt-purlins, square-set ridge, windbraces;
left truss has blades with tops scarfed above the collar. At
passage-end a stud-and-panel screen, the studs chamfered and
with diagonal-cut stops. Above it a chamber projecting into
the hall where it has a late C16 or early C17 ovolo-moulded
bressumer with step-stops. In rear wall a fireplace with
cambered chamfered wood lintel. In left gable-wall a large,
later segmental-headed fireplace.
Through-passage has rear doorway with boxed segmental-headed
arch. In right wall an unglazed borrowed light into
service-room: 2-light ovolo-moulded wood frame with original
lattice-work.
In cross-wing C17/C18 wood stair leads off passage: single
flight branching off left and right at the top; closed
strings, turned balusters, moulded handrail, square newels
with flat moulded caps; against wall at top a moulded skirting
with ogee-moulded profile to match each tread.
Ground-floor front room of cross-wing has complete C17/C18
panelled room; raised bolection-moulded panels; wood
bolection-moulded chimneypiece with C19 enriched iron grate; 2
round-headed cupboards with shaped shelves; shutters with
ovolo-moulded raised-and-fielded shutters; coved cornice. Rear
ground-floor room has only a plain unchamfered ceiling-beam.
Cross-wing roof is a lighter version of that over hall, also
with 2 trusses; no smoke-blackening; angled ridge; bird's
mouthed collars forming intermediate trusses. C16 addition has
chamfered beams with scroll-stops; remains of dado with
moulded rail and skirting; solid granite trough, probably for
salting meat or fish with 2 compartments. Room above has late
C16 stone chimneypiece: Tudor-arched with ogee, hollow and
half-round mouldings and urn-stops; frieze of roundels and
lozenges filled with flowers and fleurs-de-lis. Original
roof-trusses with straight feet.
The house also contains several early doors, either with
raised-and-fielded ovolo-moulded panels or simple vertical
planks. Converted barn (which probably had a domestic function
originally) has chamfered beams with step-stops and chamfered
joists with run-out stops. Old roof-timbers include one blade
of a raised cruck with threaded purlins.
Old Ford is remarkable as a well-preserved medieval
hall-and-cross-wing house, a type very rare in Devon,
particularly at vernacular level. It is believed to have
adjoined an early fording-place on the River Torridge, and has
been suggested as the former Manor-house of the Grenville
family. The Bideford Community Archive has floor-plans and
sections (not entirely accurate).
(Bideford Community Archive: Plans and elevations; Goaman M:
Old Bideford and District: Bristol: 1968-: P.19; Pridham TL:
Devonshire Celebrities: Exeter: 1869-: P.105).

Listing NGR: SS4531025908

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536637

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)