Bridgeland Street.
This is the next street along the Quay and is considered by some to be the grandest and least changed street in the town. It was a speculative development in the 1690’s shortly after the extension of the Quay and it became the home of the richest merchants in Bideford. In 1724 Daniel Defoe, the author of “Robinson Crusoe”, described Bridgeland Street as being “a spacious, broad, well built street inhabited with wealthy merchants who trade to most parts of the trading world”.
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The Masonic Lodge, number 12, is considered to be one of the grandest in Bideford. Numbers 28 and 28A date back to 1693. The street has more examples of the tax avoiding “blind windows” along with a further ploy to avoid paying another tax. The Red House, number 26, and its neighbour look as though they are brick built but they are in fact faced with tiles to avoid paying the Brick Tax of 1784 to 1850 when tiles were not taxed. |
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Lavington ChapelLavington Chapel, with its two unusual “spiky Gothic” towers, was opened in 1859 and replaced the earlier Grand Meeting House, built in 1696. It remains testimony to Bideford’s non-conformist past. Lavington Chapel 2009 © Dave Green
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