Description

BARNSTAPLE

SS5533 BRUNSWICK WHARF
684-1/6/77 (South side)
31/08/88 The Boathouse

II

Warehouse, now disused. Early C19. Slatestone rubble with
dressings of squared stone, much of it limestone, yellow and
red brick. Slated roof with blue glazed ridge-tiles. Oblong
plan with one room on each floor.
2 storeys. 4-window ranges to north and south; 1-window gable
wall to west. Upper storey of east gable wall has tall,
round-headed doorway with well-cut stone jambs; yellow brick
arch with keystone, springing from plain imposts. Double doors
(probably original) consisting of diagonally-set planks with
beaded edges. Lower doors, rising to impost level, are hinged
at the sides, but a 2nd pair in the head of the arch are
hinged from a central post. A later wicket door has been cut
into the right-hand lower door. Fixed to right-hand jamb is
part of an old iron hoist.
On left side the doorway is approached by a flight of steps.
Lowest 4 steps are of solid brick, but the next 4 are
cantilevered stone blocks. These have been underpinned in
concrete block and a platform and double doors to ground
storey added in C20. Behind is the original ground-storey
entrance with well-cut stone jambs, rebated for doors of which
the iron hinges survive.
South front has in ground storey 5 low, blocked openings with
curved almost pointed arches of red brick. A 6th opening at
west end has been cut into by a C20 door. Upper storey has 4
windows below the eaves, 3 of them blocked. The 2nd from the
east is boarded, having behind it a rough window-frame
fronting an old iron grille. Between and flanking the windows
are 15 slate-framed pigeon-holes, 2 of them having the
original slate perches. At the right-hand end is a doorway,
now blocked, with a segmental red brick arch.
The north front, which stands immediately on the edge of the
quay, has windows with segmental red brick arches, 2 in the
centre of the ground storey and 4 above; the 2nd upper-storey
window from the east has a wooden louvre with an old iron
grille behind it. Flanking the ground-storey windows are 2
wide doorways with segmental red brick arches; the eastern
doorway is blocked, while the western one has an old plank
door. Both doorways originally extended down to a lower quay
surface. Quay wall below is supported by 3 large, raking stone
buttresses. West gable-wall has a window with segmental red
brick arch in upper storey and another in the gable;
upper-storey window has an old iron grille. Against the north
side of the ground storey is the shadow of a later stone
building now demolished; it is shown in old photographs and in
a mid C19 painting.
INTERIOR: 1988 list description mentions plain, heavy
upper-floor beams. 4 roof trusses with tie-beams, collar-beams
and vertical struts from tie to principal. All timbers
appeared to be nailed rather than pegged; the struts were
bolted from below. A building is shown in this position,
complete with extension to west, on John Wood's plan of 1843.
Brunswick Wharf was built by the Gould family on a town lease
about 1829 and held by them throughout C19.
(Gardiner WF: Barnstaple, 1837-97: Barnstaple: 1897-: 22, 37,
87-8; Baxter J & Baxter J: Barnstaple Yesterday: Bristol:
1980-: 30).

Listing NGR: SS5563633506

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26664880

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

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)