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Summary

Gardens enclosed following late 17th century development of Bridgeland Street.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• GARDEN (XVII to XXI - 1700 AD to 2012 AD (Between))

Full description

Green, T. + Walls, S. + Wapshott, E., 2012, Land to the Rear of 28 Bridgeland Street & 5 Queen Street Bideford. Results of a Desk-Based Study & Historic Building Recording, 24-30: Figs 5, 7 -12, 15, 17, 20 (Report - non-specific). SDV349405.

The area enclosed by Bridgeland Street, Queen Street, Cooper Street and Mill Street is in general an open space which includes the garden of 28 Bridgeland Street, but is largely taken up with the storage of cars by Heards Garage in Queen Street. From the details provided in the document of 1699 Feoffees patent, it appears that until the end of the 17th century this northern part of the borough was semirural with a dilapidated house, meadow, orchards and gardens lying between the core of the town to the south and the rope-walk lying parallel to a watercourse known as the Pill to the north. The
earliest cartographic evidence of the state of this enclosed area is a plan of (apparently) 1720. This plan shows the ownership of properties within the town. The properties on the south side of Bridgeland Street are very simply indicated, the extent of their courtlages to their rear clearly shown with a straight line, directly comparable to the property boundaries shown on a plan of 174.
To their south are parallel strips of land related to the properties of Mill Street or Queen Street. This situation is difficult to reconcile both with the record of 1745 and that of the 1840s represented by John Wood’s town map and the Tithe Map, in which the area is represented as divided into a multiplicity of gardens.
The cartographic records of the 19th century clearly indicate that the backland was divided into numerous gardens of varying size. The Tithe Apportionment shows that all the gardens are
free of tithe, being covered by an exemption summarised in the preamble to the apportionment document, viz. "The ancient gardens within the said parish are by prescription exempt from tithe." All the" ancient gardens", including these, are listed in a separate section of the Apportionment, and a separate plan of these gardens. The list of exempted gardens is long.
Of the 21 gardens represented on the Tithe Map within the area between Bridgeland Street, Mill Street, Cooper Street and Queen Street, 10 belonged to the Bridge Feoffees, three to the Parish of
Bideford and 8 were severally owned. Five were occupied by their owners, the rest were occupied by 19 separate tenants. There is nothing to indicate how the gardens were used, though the nature of their tenure suggests allotments for produce.
The town plan of 1842, while useful in that it shows the footprints of buildings and the names of the occupants, seems not to represent accurately the lay-out of the gardens. Corresponding more closely to the Tithe Map and to the limited but precise detail provided by the 1745 plan, the Ordnance Survey First Edition map, surveyed in 1886, makes the most useful contribution to the understanding of this area. It shows, within the area of present interest, five gardens. In Figure 12 these gardens are marked B-F, each of which are discussed below.

Gardens B and C:
Garden B appears to be the original 17th century garden of Number 17 (28) Bridgeland Street occupied in 1745 by Elizabeth Hooper and in 1840 by James Rooker. Garden C was, in 1745, a
Bridgeland Trust property. According to the schedule accompanying the plan and according to the plan itself, there were, in addition to the garden area, a shop, a cellar and a brew house set around a courtyard. The courtyard area had by 1839 been separated from the rest of plot, becoming part of what is now Number 7 Queen Street. The rest of the garden of Area C appears to have remained as a single unit, however the Tithe Map appears to suggest that the eastern end had been enclosed in a separate ownership, probably belonging at this time to the White Hart Public House on Queen Street; this is definitely the case by the 1st edition.
By 1839 Areas B and C were in joint occupation, but apparently separated by a solid boundary. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map provides evidence of a path running from Area B to C, which suggests an opening had probably been forced within the wall formerly separating the two areas. The First Edition OS map suggests (in a stylised manner) that both gardens were in the 1880s laid out with paths, perhaps with lawned areas and standard trees. Comparison of the 1885 map with that of 1905 indicates that between these two dates the former boundary between the two gardens was demolished. Today the scars of both the eastern and western ends of this former boundary are visible. A previous occupant reports that where the wall formerly stood nothing grows well, suggesting that the foundations remain.

Garden D:
In 1745 garden D belonged to Dennis Stucley whose property included the corresponding buildings in Mill Street as well as leasing Area C. This suggests that an access between Areas C and D may
have existed at this date, which probably explains why the outbuilding to Area C on the First Edition (still in use) projects into the northeast corner of Area D, as this has been inserted at a later date to block a former opening.
By 1840 garden D was the property of William Bartlett who also owned a number of properties in the adjoining eastern side of Mill Street. John Wood’s town plan of 1842 hints that Garden D was most likely accessed from Mill Street, via a passage through Number 47 Mill Street. The 1842 town plan also suggests that the area now enclosed as Garden D extended further west at this date, thereby including the area of land south of the garden to number 24 Bridgeland. By the time of the First Edition the garden had been reduced to its current size, and the former access blocked, although a pathway still extended from the alleyway off Mill Street to the western elevation. An access from the garden of 27 Bridgeland into Garden D had been made by this date. The Ordnance Survey map of the 1880s represents the garden as set out with a central area with bordering trees, which has since been largely removed to form a car park.

Garden E:
This area is not readily identifiable among the plans of 1745. In 1839 this must have been the garden numbered 1363. It was the property of the Parish of Bideford and was occupied by a prominent merchant who was also the Treasurer of the Town Council.
The 1880s Ordnance Survey mapshows this garden with paths around the periphery and through the centre, and with trees planted to the north and west. It would also appear that the access passage
from Queen Street into this plot was only forced after this date (between 1840 and 1886), as the Tithe Map indicates that number 5 Queen Street had two projecting bays in 1839 and only a single one on the first edition. The differing occupation in 1841 may give an explanation for the insertion of the passageway between these dates. An alternative former entrance is also hinted at on the first
edition, with the garden path in the plot of 4 Cooper Street (the property to the west of the Maltscoop Inn) heading into the southern wall of Area E. This is supported by the physical evidence of this part of the southern elevation of Garden E having been a later (re)build.

Garden F:
This small garden appears to represent the eastern third of the plot numbered 1366 in 1839. A change in ownership appears to have taken place in 1847/8, with a boundary formalised to create what is now Garden F with a separate yard and outbuildings for the Maltscoop Inn to the west. The access passage through number 6a Cooper Street may have been made at this date, although it is not depicted on the First Edition.
In the 1880s the garden was laid out with an open central area and paths around. The northern boundary wall of this plot was demolished after 1973 as it is shown on the Ordnance Survey map of this date. The scar of the former wall is today visible on the (rendered) eastern boundary wall but not seen on the western wall presumably as this had already been removed by the outbuildings indicated on the 1886 and 1973 maps.

In the 1880s all the five main garden areas appear to have been separated from each other by walls, many of which survive today, although a number of wide openings have been forced since 1973.
The walls are mostly of similar construction, with slight variations in height and build techniques. They are typically of approximately 1.5-2 metres height, 0.3-0.6 metre width and constructed of blocky subangular stone with a hard lime mortar bonding

An aerial photograph, probably from the 1920s, shows the gardens still in use, some of the walls visible. A previous resident reports that in the 1950s, apart from the garden (Area B) immediately
to the rear of 28 Bridgeleand Street (where there was a mulberry tree which was already ancient when it fell down in 1958), the gardens were worked by short-term tenants. There were ancient fruit trees and ‘two allotments for vegetables’. The single apple tree within Garden C may relate to these ancient fruit trees, although it does not appear to correspond with any of the trees indicated on the 1880s Ordnance Survey map. The use of the term ‘allotment’ may in fact point to the historic status of these gardens. The fact that around 1840 a number of them were in use by people who were not resident in any of the adjacent properties strongly suggests that they were rented out for growing produce.
Post-1973 the gardens forming areas E, D and F became hard standing areas for Heards Garage, with large openings forced through the garden walls that had formerly separated these plots. The southern wall of Garden C also appears to have been partially rebuilt in the latter 20th century.

Map object absed on this source.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5862 - Assessment and Building Recording

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