Buildings Recording And Investigation at Former Bicclescombe Nurseries, Furze Hill Road, Ilfracombe, Devon

The site was visited a number of times over 2024-2025 by archaeologists Dr B. Morris MCIfA & E. Wapshott MCIfA, both to record the building and monitor the demolition and clearance. Information was recorded on proforma record sheets and located on the current floorplans. Photographs were taken, both of the exterior elevations and of internal details. A measured plan of the structure was also made onsite. The building was a good example of the architecture of its period and survived (when recorded) in a largely complete state, even with some elements of the hospital use, intact, such as sinks, signs, laundry copper, drains etc. The buildings and site were an emotive space, as a former isolation hospital, with added associational and illustrative value, perhaps more so now that society has passed through our own 21st century pandemic. Having been empty for years the buildings were in a relatively poor condition, the site very overgrown and attracted anti-social behaviour. The reuse and redevelopment of the site to provide much-needed affordable and social-provision housing means the over-arching community-first use of this site in many ways continues.