Iffield

BIDEFORD

SS4526 NORTH ROAD 842-1/5/205 (South side) 08/11/49 Iffield

GV II

Large detached house in Cottage Ornee style. 1823, but extended later in C19. Solid rendered walls. Slate roof. Several red-brick chimneys, some rendered. U-shaped plan, but with various projections; in the centre of the U, as if infilling a courtyard, a lower range; entrance through E wing. 2 storeys, except for single-storeyed range in centre of the U. East front has centre gabled projection with 2 pointed-arched openings in ground storey, each with moulded architrave. Doorway to right has half-glazed double doors with glazing-bars following the curve of the arch. Window to left has sashes with similar glazing-bars. Matching window in upper storey. Projection has raised quoins; patterned bargeboards. To left, a pointed-arched blind window with moulded archtitrave in each storey. To right a canted bay window, a later addition, with reeded boards at the corners and a deep boxed eaves-cornice. Pointed-arched windows like those to the left, but without patterned glazing; those in ground storey have cinquefoil arches containing coloured glass. South front has gabled wings with patterned bargeboards; windows similar to those on the older part of east front. Single-storeyed section has canted bay window in centre with matching glazing. Attached to it is a conservatory in the same style. North front also has windows with pointed arches; those in ground storey have heads filled with cinquefoil tracery and coloured glass. INTERIOR: wooden staircase with open Gothic balustrade. Room to right of staircase has panelled doors with oil paintings of lake and seascapes, reputed to be by the artist Arthur Hughes, for whom the house was built. Owner says more paintings concealed behind wall-covering in adjoining room (with later bay window to east). The single-storeyed range (probably a former billiard-room) has a lavishly-enriched cornice and ceiling-band; flanking the chimneybreast 2 recesses with multi-cusped Gothic arches. The house contains several studded Gothic doors and plaster cornices. In 1869 TL Pridham, an intimate friend of Arthur Hughes (1803-38), wrote that 'many of his fresco and other paintings still adorn the walls of Hyefield Cottage, at Bideford, which he built for his residence, and where he resided for several years during which time he painted several pictures of great merit'. (Pridham TL: Devonshire Celebrities: Exeter: 1869-: P.129; Graves A: The Royal Academy of Arts. A Complete Dictionary of Contributors: London: 1906-: P.183; Thieme U: Allgemeines Lexikon Der Bildenden Kunstler: 1925-: P.84).

Listing NGR: SS4510426832