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Summary

House, later the Customs House, now a public house. The building dates from 1695.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1206709: THE OLD CUSTOM HOUSE

Other References/Statuses

• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CUSTOM HOUSE (XVII to XXI - 1695 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

English Heritage, 1949 (update, Bideford (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV336482.

Numbers 1 and 1A Bridgeland Street (North side) The Old Custom House (Formerly Listed as:Bridgeland Street (North side) Number 1 Bridgeland House).
House, later the Customs House, now a public house. 1695, remodelled with rear additions in early and mid 19th century. Solid rendered walls. Slate roof. Rendered chimney on rear wall. Two storeys with garret; four-window range, with doorway in place of second ground-storey window front left. Windows have shaped surrounds; sashes with margin-panes. Raised band above ground storey. Three gabled dormers with pierced, patterned bargeboards; sashes with margin-panes. Gable-end facing The Quay has two-storeyed, three-light bay window with rounded corners and top entablature; sashes with glazing-bars. Garret window matches those on Bridgeland Street front. Gable decorated with three ball-finials. At rear a rounded stair turret with round-arched window containing 18-pane fixed sash with radial bars at the top. Adjoining it on either side, additions with late 20th century slate-hanging. To right, facing the Ropewalk, a former warehouse; ground storey altered, but upper storey retains 19th century loading-door flanked by sash-windows with margin-panes.
Interior: ground storey only inspected, completely altered. Rear staircase has thin, square-section balusters. Bideford Bridge Trust lease of 20.5.1695 grants newly erected house on this site to Nathaniel Gascoyne, carpenter, who had laid out Bridgeland Street in 1690. Lease of 1832 says building 'now used as the Custom House'; it was no longer used for this purpose by 1890.
(Thorp J: Programme of Devon Buildings Group Summer Conference, 1987: 1987-: Notes - Bridgeland St; Bideford Historic Buildings Survey, Notes; Bideford Bridge Trust Account Book: 1).

Timms, S. C., 1976, The Devon Urban Survey, 1976. First Draft, 92 (Report - Survey). SDV341346.

Torridge District Council, 2009, Bideford Conservation Area Appraisal, 15 (Report - non-specific). SDV351295.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Carter, D. + Carter, J., 2013, Statement of Significance. 1 Bridgeland Street, Bideford, Devon (Report - non-specific). SDV351136.

Bideford Bridge Turst documents indicate that a lease for this property existed in 1695, when the house is described as newly erected. The original custom house was at the top of Bridge Street, as shown on a 1717 plan. The first documentary record to this function in number 1 Bridgeland Street dates to 1815. This use ceased between 1881 and 1885.
A series of photographs from 1890 onwrds show that the ground floor façade has been extensively altered and subsequently recreated. In the late 20th century much of the interior was removed, and the building served a variety of commercial uses.

Chappell, S., 2013, The Old Custom House, Bideford (Ground Photograph). SDV355600.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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