Bridewell House Including Iron Railings

Bridewell House is a former police station, dating from 1846, and later converted into flats. It was restored in 1978 by the Devon Historic Buildings Trust. The rear of the building is constructed from local volcanic trap stone, mainly stuccoed, while the front elevation is ashlar. The slate roof is hidden behind a parapet, with end stacks featuring deep projecting cornices and cast-iron rainwater goods. The design is in the Italianate style, and the building is two rooms wide and one room deep, with a central entrance and a rear centre projection.

The exterior is symmetrical with three bays, and features rusticated clasping pilasters to the first floor. A deep moulded eaves cornice sits on dentil brackets, above which is a parapet. A platband runs at first-floor level. The centre bay protrudes and is taller, also featuring rusticated pilasters with the eave cornice broken around them. A prominent, round-headed doorway with a hollow-chamfered rusticated arch and keyblock leads to a two-leaf panelled door, which has sunk panels and a fanlight with small panes and an external grille. Granite blocks flank the steps to the front door. A horizontal ribbon window above the doorway has a proud eaved architrave. The ground floor front windows are tripartite, with square-section mullions and deep sills on brackets. Most of the windows are replacements. Ground floor windows have 12 panes in the centre light, and 4 panes in the outer lights. First-floor windows have plain architraves and 12-pane sashes. Barred basement windows also have 12-pane sashes. The return walls are largely blind, though the left return wall retains a painted pointing finger and the sign "POLICE STATION".

The rear elevation has first-floor windows with proud eared architraves and 4-pane casements to the rear of the main block. The interior was not accessible at the time of survey. Iron railings to the basement area feature diagonal standards and leaf finials. The building displays architectural details characteristic of earlier 18th-century Ordnance Board structures.