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.

Record last edited

Dec 18 2023 3:15PM