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History of
Larkstone Terrace
Larkstone
Terrace
When Ilfracombe
became a select seaside resort, at the beginning of the 19th
century, terraces were built to accommodate visitors.
They were built in the style of those in Bath, Cheltenham and other
spa towns where people came both for recreation and for their
health, in this case sea-bathing.
The first terrace, Coronation Terrace (commemorating that of
George IV in 1820) had in its centre the ‘Rooms’ for assembly, as in
other spa towns, and there was a parade in front of each terrace
where people could meet and admire the view, in this case much more
spectacular than any offered in the inland spas.
Coronation Terrace was re-built in the mid-century, losing
its Rooms and distinctive style.
Hillsborough has lost its pediment and symmetrical layout,
only Adelaide
represents the unified design that brought a row of houses into a
group of palatial proportions.
 The
wealthy would come ‘en famille’ with their retinue of servants, and
take over a house in the terrace for the season, catering for
themselves, socialising and ‘dipping’ (not swimming) in the
health-giving briny.
Later in the century taste turned towards villas, hence
Torrs
Park, but terraces were
still built to provide for the less wealthy who came in great
numbers by the newly opened railway and efficient steamer services.
These terraces were of boarding houses which catered for
weekly or fortnightly holiday-makers, the owners moving into the
attics (hence the popularity of Mansard or pavilion roofs) during
the season. These
terraces can be seen all over Ilfracombe, some being later united
into hotels (eg. The Osborne and Carlton).
Larkstone Terrace is possibly the longest of these later
terraces (consisting of 19 houses), but it was not built all at
once. A careful study
of its design reveals differences which came from this fact.
An early photo of 1872 shows two gaps between the eight
houses at the east end, and the Trafalgar Hotel, (before 1939 the
Tawstock Hotel and now flats) at its west end.
Next to this are two houses without bays, but with long and
short work surrounds to their windows and doors.
There follow eight six storey houses with alternating square
and canted bays, then come the earliest of five storeys with canted
bays.
Although details
differ, the terrace is held together with a continuous roofline and
unbroken eaves, except for one small set-back between the two
eights. Like the
earlier terraces Larkstone commands a dramatic view over
Hillsborough and the harbour out to sea, but, like Coronation
Terrace, its back faces the access road and so is less impressive
than those terraces which stand above the road.
Various extensions and porches have been added which gives
the road front a haphazard and untidy appearance.
What does impress as one comes into the town is the very tall
gable end which is entirely slated, possibly the largest area so
treated in the town.
The houses of the terrace, rising as they do through five storeys
with basements, make an almost forbidding array facing down towards
the little beach of Larkstone (or Laston, named after the ballast
[last] that ships unloaded there, as its varied stone and brick
pebbles reveal). What
labour there must have been in climbing endless flights of stairs to
service the bedrooms before the days of lifts!
Being a chambermaid was no easy task.
The sketches are of the east end, the gable and the four
earliest houses, but even here one can detect differences of design.
Possibly they were not all built at once, or is it age that
is responsible for those differences?
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