| The Bickford Arms was originally part of the
Dunsland Estate, an extensive holding that once stretched across
large parts of North Devon. The estate was gradually broken
up and it passed through the hands of several major court and
political families, principal among which were the Cadiho, Arscott,
Dabernon and Bickford families. These, and two other minor families,
are commemorated in both the names of our bedrooms and the pub
itself. The photographs and drawings show the pub between
the end of the 19th century and the present day. The woods shown
in the photograph from the 1900s are still there. The bow windows
to the front had been added by the 1920s. The photo from the
1980s shows the pub before an attempt at ‘thatched restoration’
(shown on the about us page) and was one of the photographs
that provided a template for rebuilding the pub after the disastrous
fire in 2003.
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