The Folly Including Boundary Walls On North And South Sides

BIDEFORD

SS4526 NEW ROAD 842-1/6/199 (West side (off)) 19/03/73 The Folly including boundary walls on N & S sides (Formerly Listed as: TORRIDGE HILL "Woodah" (or "Wooder") with the Tower in the grounds)

GV II

Folly, originally belonging to Wooda, on Torridge Hill (qv); converted into a house about 1982. General appearance late C19, but it may be an enlargement of an earlier building, perhaps of 1848; north wing added about 1982. Stone rubble with cream-brick dressings; west side rendered. Roof not visible from below. Small rectangular building with splayed corners on east side; added wing on north. 2 storeys on a high plinth; addition single-storeyed. Battlemented structure set on high ground overlooking the town and the River Torridge; on north side a sheer rocky drop to Torridge Hill, cut through about 1825. South front of 3-window range, including one window on the splayed corner; one window on east front, another on the farther splayed corner, and a third on north front. Pointed-arched windows (except for flat-headed one in upper storey of east front) with plain glazing; cream-brick surrounds in upper storey. Raised bands above plinth and each upper storey, the top one of cream brick finished with a battlemented parapet. The stone bands do not extend to the left-hand window of the south front and the corresponding part of north front is merely rendered. West end of south front and all the battlements have cream-brick quoins. Set into the wall of the addition is a stone tablet discovered when the foundations were dug. It reads: G. RICHARDS 1848. On north side of garden, on the cliff-edge, is a section of battlemented stone-rubble wall. Similar wall on south side, abutting the house, except that in the west section the battlements are more crudely formed of upright blocks of stone. The building is not shown on the Bideford Tithe map of 1841. George Richards was an actuary living at Wooder (now Wooda) on Torridge Hill in 1850. (Bideford Tithe Map: 1841-; White W: Directory of Devonshire: 1850-: P.762).

Listing NGR: SS4532026152