Bowring Library is a Grade II listed building in the Dartmoor National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 27 July 1992. Library.
Bowring Library
- WRENN ID
- turning-flue-weasel
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Dartmoor National Park
- Constituency
- Central Devon MP: Sir Mel Stride (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 27 July 1992
- Type
- Library
- Address
- Bowring Library, Moretonhampstead, Teignbridge
- OS grid reference
- SX 753 860
- Coordinates
- 50.66097, -3.76462
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Bowring Library is a library built in 1901-1902 by Silvanus Trevail. It is constructed from snecked local stone and features richly detailed terracotta dressings, with a slate roof and moulded terracotta stacks. The building is designed in the Jacobethan style and has a double-depth plan with a stair hall located to the front right. It stands two storeys high with an attic and has a symmetrical four-window front.
The windows are ovolo-moulded transomed cross windows, with the ground-floor right window being shorter and featuring splayed architraves on the first floor. Above a string course, there are panels with relief lettering that reads "BOWRING LIBRARY," which is linked to a tall pedimented doorcase adorned with an enriched tympanum and obelisk finials on short pilasters. A commemorative panel is situated above a panelled door that has a moulded segmental-arched architrave.
The first-floor windows are framed by corbelled pilasters with small Ionic capitals, linked by string courses and topped with pinnacles featuring obelisk finials. The full gabled dormers also have obelisk finials and graduated three-light windows with glazing-bar casements. The gabled right-hand return is treated in a similar style.
Inside, the library retains all original joinery, which includes Art Nouveau brass details and a substantial inner porch. The moulded cornices enhance the interior, and the hall features a mosaic floor with an open-well stair that has turned balusters, lead treads, and ball finials on the newels. The library was a gift to the town from Sir Thomas Bowring, a notable wool trader and benefactor.
Local climate
Bowring Library receives an average of 930 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 71% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 67% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 55% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
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