Fairfield And Fairmead

BARNSTAPLE

SS5534 BELLAIRE, Pilton 684-1/2/315 (North side (off)) 31/12/73 Fairfield and Fairmead

GV II

2 houses, originally built as one. 1827 (Reed). Stuccoed, rear partly slate-hung; slate roofs; stacks with short brick shafts and old pots. Main block flanked by lower-roofed wings on the same axis. Centre block 3 storeys with a gabled slate roof; 2-storey left and right wings, roofs hipped at ends. Symmetrical 1:3:1-window range with front doors into the wings. Deep eaves with projecting rafter ends; main block has 7-bay verandah on cast-iron columns. Round-headed doorways with pilastered architraves; 2-leaf half-glazed front doors with plain overlights. First-floor windows to wings and second-floor windows to main block are 12-pane sashes with margin panes. Ground floor of main block rusticated with French windows with margin panes. Verandah has pretty cast-iron balustrade with spider's-web panels. First floor of main block has 3 French windows, similar to ground floor, with stuccoed voussoirs (right-hand missing). Rear elevation partly slate-hung with very tall round-headed stair window. INTERIOR: Fairfield partially inspected. The wing has a fine, cast-iron eliptical cantilevered stair. HISTORICAL NOTE: according to Reed the house was advertised to let as nearly finished' in 1827, when it was called Broadgate Villa. The name had changed to Fairfield by 1918. It was the home of the Munro family from 1872 and HH Munro, the authorSaki' was brought up here by his grandmother and 2 maiden aunts. His book The Square Egg, published 1924 with a biographical note by his sister, describes life at Broadgate Villa in the 1870s and 1880s (Reed, p162). (Reed MA: Pilton, its Past and Present: Barnstaple: 1985-: 159-60).

Listing NGR: SS5532634263