Description

BRIDFORD BRIDFORD
SX 88 NW
2/49 The Old Rectory
11.11.52
GV II
Former rectory. C15 or earlier origins, substantially remodelled in the early C19
and altered in the 1950s. Whitewashed rendered stone; tiled roof (formerly
thatched) with sprocketed eaves, semi-conical at the left end, gabled at the right
end; rear left lateral stack to main block enclosed by rear left wing, front right
lateral stack (shaft dismantled), end stack to rear right wing.
Plan: Overall U plan. The origins of the house are a probably C15 or earlier open
hall of which only one end (the right end), survives with the remnants of the
through passage. This was probably the hall. The
house was thoroughly remodelled for the Reverend Carrington in the early C19 as an
L plan arrangement, 2 heated rooms to the left, divided by an entrance into a stair
hall, and a library wing at right angles to the left hand room. The lower end
appears to have remained single-storey throughout, retaining its medieval roof but
with a front lateral stack added. A rear right service wing is probably C18 in
origin but heavily remodelled in the C19 and C20. In the 1950s the thatch was
replaced with tile and the rear lateral stack of the centre room dismantled.
Renovations exposed an important painted plank and muntin screen in the right end
room.
Exterior: 2 storeys to the left, the lower end single-storey under a lower
roofline. Asymmetrical 2 window front, the 2 windows to the single-storey right
end. The main block has an approximately central C19 porch with timber Tuscan
columns and a 6-panel 2-leaf front door; front elevation blind to the left of the
porch; half-glazed C20 door to putative former passage at right hand of main block.
fenestration of C19 or C20 timber casements with glazing bars to the first floor,
timber sashes with glazing bars to the ground floor. 2 C20 timber casements to the
right end, one on either side of the truncated stack. The left return of the main
block has a 2-storey canted bay window fenestrated with 4-pane timber sashes,
similar windows to the library.
Interior: The right end room has a notable painted medieval plank and muntin
screen, sited about 2 metres above ground level: E. Clive Rouse considered it to be
in situ. A doorway has been inserted in the right hand panel with steps up, but of
the remaining 8 panels, 6 retain figure paintings, the figures holding lances with
penons. Rouse suggested that the iconography is the Elizabethan Nine Worthies with
parallels at Harrington Hall and Amersham, Bucks, making this "amongst the earliest
sets of Worthies in the country". The putative through passage retains a crossbeam
with mortises for a former screen. The rest of the house retains some good features
from the early C19 remodelling: a stick baluster stair with a wreathed mahogany
handrail; a decorated plaster ceiling frieze in the left hand room with egg and
dart moulding and a fine first floor chamber above with a coved plaster ceiling
with a decorated plaster frieze.
Roof: The C15 smoke-blackened roof over the right end survives below a later roof
structure. It has 2 face-pegged jointed cruck roof trusses with a square-set ridge
supported on a saddle, sooted rafters also survive. The roof trusses over the
higher end are mostly C19 but one earlier pegged truss may be C17.
The Reverend Carrington, Rector of Bridford 1815-42, wrote "Parochiales Bridfordii"
in MS, this includes an account of the Rectory as he found it.
An important painted screen and part of an unusually early medieval roof in a
remodelled house.
E. Clive Rouse,"Bridford Rectory, Devon: Note on a painted screen or Panelling",
typescript dated 1955 deposited in National Monument Record.

Listing NGR: SX8147186218

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26604339

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

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  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)