63, Fore Street

ILFRACOMBE

SS5247 FORE STREET 853-1/7/41 (North side) No.63

GV II

Former county police station, now a restaurant. Dated 1873, by HW Farley of Exeter. MATERIALS: local New Road squared stone rubble with dressings of Forest of Dean stone. Hipped slated roof. Rendered chimneys on side walls. Italiante style with Gothic details. PLAN: the original plans show a double-fronted, double-depth plan. The ground storey was to have a central entrance passage with charge room to left and kitchen to right; 2 cells at the rear with stair to right. 5 bedrooms on upper floor. In basement another kitchen, back kitchen, pantry cellar, coal store, 2 wash houses, 2 privys (one a 2-seater) and an ash pit; there was a yard at the rear. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with basement. Symmetrical 3-window front. Centre doorway with segmental arch and hood mould; 4-panelled door. BEVERLEY in gilt letters on fanlight (it was originally to have had POLICE STATION in this position); date 1873 carved above. 2-light window on either side and in corresponding positions in second storey; single light window above the door. Ground storey windows have chamfered and stopped mullions, these being replaced in second storey by columns with enriched capitals. Prominent bracketed stone eaves cornice. INTERIOR not inspected. The police station was erected by R Thorn and J Hicks of Ilfracombe, builders, at a cost of »1,018. 10s. 0d. The roof was to be covered with Delabole or Welsh slate and the interior lit by gas. (Devon Record Office, Police Station Plans, B13/5/4; Hussell AT: Ilfracombe Chronicle, 20.8.1937: 8).

Listing NGR: SS5212947749