Nos 28 And 28A Including Pump And Milestone In Courtyard

Numbers 28 and 28A, Bridgeland Street, including Pump and Milestone in Courtyard

This large house, dated 1692 and 1693, now has its left-hand side, rear range, and front garret converted to flats and offices. The building underwent some late 19th-century rebuilding at the rear, marked by a date of 1891.

The house is constructed of dull-red brick tinged with yellowish brown, laid in Flemish bond. The plinths are of squared stone rubble at the rear, with the front plinth rendered. The roofs are slate; those on the right side of the courtyard and at the rear of the front range are mansards, probably dating from the late 19th century. The rear range and an added corridor behind the front range have flat roofs. Old red-brick chimneys sit on each end-wall of the front range. The chimneys at the rear all appear to be late 19th-century red brick, including two at the rear of the front range which heated the middle rooms.

Plan and Layout

The building is arranged around four sides of a courtyard, with a corridor added behind the front range in the early or mid-18th century. The front range is one room deep with four ground-storey rooms and a central through-passage. A side entrance-passage, possibly original, exists at the left-hand end. The range to the right of the courtyard contains the original staircase at the front with a former kitchen behind, and the present kitchen (perhaps formerly the pantry) to the rear. The left-hand range, now offices, is believed to have originally contained stores and a workshop. The rear range, converted to a flat, is thought to have been the dairy.

The building is two storeys with a garret, except for the left range (two storeys only) and the rear range (single-storeyed).

Front Elevation

The front presents an eight-window range. Windows are segmental-headed on the ground storey and flat-headed above. All windows, except that above the front door, have six-paned sashes in flush frames. A raised band runs above the ground storey, and a prominent modillioned eaves cornice crowns the facade.

The front door, located in the fourth bay from the left, was remodelled in the early 19th century, with a flat-fronted bow window built out above it. The doorway features three-panelled double-doors with a cobweb fanlight above, panelled reveals, and wooden Doric flanking columns supporting an entablature. Evidence suggests that at some earlier date a raised band was cut away, with the butt-end of a timber visible on the right-hand side. The bow window has three lights with mullions designed as half-round reeded pilasters supporting an entablature. The lights contain sashes that are eight-paned in the centre and six-paned at the sides. An eight-panelled door to Number 28A is positioned at the left-hand end of the frontage.

Flanking the three middle windows is a pair of original lead rainwater pipes of exceptional decorative quality. The heads feature shields each carrying a castle and surmounted by a knight's helmet on which sits a four-legged creature. Flanking the shields are floral pendants and lions, themselves flanked to the left by sprays of foliage or to the right by more lions. At the base of each rainwater-head is a winged cherub-head flanked by pendants. Below the left-hand cherub is a cartouche with the date 1692 flanked by lions. Both pipes have decorated clamps: one to the left bears the initials IHE and two winged cherub-heads; two to the right, with the upper one displaying cartouches, the date 1693, and the initials IHE, and the lower one showing two lions.

Four dormer windows punctuate the roofline: two in the centre are of two lights with prominent triangular gables, while two on the outsides are of four lights with top cornices developing into segmental pediments over the two centre lights. All the lights have six-paned wood casements.

Courtyard

The courtyard at the rear retains much original detail despite late 19th-century alterations. The brickwork has not been painted or rendered. The front of the right-hand range is largely original with a raised band above the ground storey. Openings in the ground storey are segmental-headed, while those above are flat-headed. There are two ground-storey windows with a third inserted between them, all with two-light mullioned-and-transomed wood casements. A similar group of windows appears above in the second storey, with the outer windows having six-paned sashes. To the left is a further window with a two-light mullioned-and-transomed wood frame, the two lower lights converted to four-paned sashes. A wooden eaves cornice and dormer window match those at the front and are probably late 19th-century replicas.

The left-hand range is original in the ground storey but was rebuilt in late 19th-century red brick above the raised band. There are three ground-storey windows with three-light wood casements (probably late 19th or 20th century). The window to the left has rebuilt jambs and lintel, while the others retain original segmental arches. The right-hand window has been converted from a doorway. The upper storey has three windows with three-light wood casements, their tops cutting through the moulded eaves-cornice and finished with triangular pediments.

The front range (the added corridor) is of old red brick in the ground storey, with late 19th-century brick above, including a raised band. The centre doorway is late 19th century with double-doors, a cobweb fanlight, and a triangular pediment. Above it sits a Sun fire-insurance plaque without a number. At either side is a segmental-headed window with a three-light mullioned wood frame, with original mullions in the left-hand (west) window. Each window is extended by one light on the outside. Upper-storey windows have late 19th-century coloured glass. A shaped parapet carries three cement urns. Two rainwater heads are dated 1891.

The wall of the rear range is original, including segmental-headed windows and a raised band. A late 19th-century shaped red-brick parapet bears three cement urns.

The courtyard has an old cobble surface with the date 1693 formed in white pebbles. In the centre stands an iron pump, believed to be a late 19th-century Evans type. Against the wall of the right-hand range is a red sandstone milestone with a rounded top, inscribed in 18th or early 19th-century letters: "7 MILES TO NEW YORK FERRY", with the number 17 in the bottom left-hand corner.

Interior

The through-passage has a six-panelled door at either side, with that to the left recessed within a round arch. A blank panel sits above the door-head with a plain archivolt, panelled imposts, and keyblock. At the rear, in the added corridor, two doors have two bolection-moulded panels. Above the right-hand door is the top of a two-light wood-mullioned window.

The stair compartment has three similar doors in the ground storey, with a fourth leading to the cupboard under the stairs. The door to the room adjoining the through-passage has been heightened by a third panel. The stair is a wooden dog-leg rising to the garret, featuring heavily-moulded closed strings, square newels with flat moulded caps, turned balusters, and a flat handrail. On the stair landing is an oil painting with a bolection-moulded frame, removed from a chimneybreast in the garret. It depicts a coastal scene with forts and a classical temple. The adjoining window has late 19th-century coloured glass.

The ground-storey room to the right of the through-passage has detail probably of the mid-18th century: a plain dado with moulded rail and base, a box-cornice, and panelled shutters. The wooden chimneypiece has panelled pilasters supporting an entablature, with the frieze having a middle panel. Rooms adjoining and across the passage have panelled shutters and 19th-century chimneypieces. The latter room has Georgian-style panelling, probably of the late 19th century.

The former kitchen has a large original dresser fixed to the wall and rising to the ceiling. The lower part has bolection-moulded doors with H-hinges. The room above has an original wooden bolection-moulded chimneypiece. The ceiling has a box-cornice and coffering, the latter possibly a late 19th-century addition. The second-storey stair landing has 19th-century six-panelled doors, and a 19th-century chimneypiece is in the right-hand front room. The owner reports that many of the fireplaces, including those in the garret, have 19th-century cast-iron grates, now boarded in.

The flats and offices were not inspected, except for Number 28A, which has a late 19th or early 20th-century entrance-hall with coloured floor-tiles, a half-glazed inner door with margin-panes, and a wooden staircase with carved balusters and newels.

Garden Walls and Historical Context

The garden walls are mostly of undatable stone rubble, but the section to the left adjoining the house is of original red and yellow brick.

The site was leased to Jonathan Hooper of Bideford, merchant, on 20 August 1692 by the Feoffees of Bideford Long Bridge. He was to "erect and build a good and sufficient dwellinghouse". The initials on the rainwater pipes are presumably those of Jonathan and his wife Elizabeth.

This is externally the best-preserved of the original houses in Bridgeland Street, itself a rare and remarkable piece of late 17th-century urban development. The courtyard plan is a surprisingly late example of its type.