Description

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the quay, but the right-hand span appears to have been
replaced by a flat roof.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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26496700

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback