Listed Building record MDO11845 - Bridge House Hotel, 115 East Street, Bridport

A house rebuilt in 1768-9 by the Rev. James Rooker for his dissenting academy for the training of Independent ministers. It is a two-storey house with an ashlar front. The building is now a hotel.

A house built or rebuilt in the 18th century, of two storeys with attics, with a later northern extension. It has an ashlar front and local squared and coursed stone walls on other sides, with a hipped tile roof. The south front has plain pilasters at either end with plinth and eaves cornice. Central doorway with moulded architrave, plain frieze and a cornice on shaped brackets. The windows have moulded architraves. Two hipped dormers. (1)

In 1768 the Rev. James Rooker applied for the renewal of a lease of a decayed house on the north side of East Street. He substantially rebuilt the house which was provided with a new stone front (completed 1769) as his house and for his "Young Men's Academy" a.k.a. "The Independent Academy", a dissenting academy for training Independent ministers. Rooker died in 1780 and the Academy transferred to Axminster in 1787. The building was used as a private home from that date until 1871 when Henry Nobbs Cox transfers hs school here. It was known as "The Academy, Bridge House", becoming "Bridport Grammar School" 1877. The school moved out in about 1885. (2)

The building is now a hotel.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 50 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(18) House, No. 115 East Street, on the N. side 450 yards E. of the town-hall, is of two storeys with attics. The walls are of ashlar and local squared and coursed stone, the roofs are tile-covered. It was built in the 18th century; the N. extension is later. The S. front has plain pilasters at either end, moulded eaves-cornice and hipped roof with two dormers; the doorway in the centre has a moulded architrave, plain frieze and a cornice on shaped brackets; the windows have moulded architraves.’

<2> Taplin, F, 2005, "This Good Work" A History of Education in Bridport 1238-2000, 33-37 (Monograph). SDO10545.

<3> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF033693 (Index). SDO14738.

BRIDGE HOUSE, EAST STREET, BRIDPORT

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 513921 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 30 2025 3:51PM