MEM24428 - Rockford Lodge, Rockford (Building)

The copy of the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map held by the HER includes a data error at this site. However, it appears that at this time, Rockford Lodge had not been constructed but Primrose Cottage (abutting to the southeast) may have been extant. [1] The 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map shows a row of cottages at SS 7565 4774, facing the East Lyn River. [2] 2018 MasterMap data shows that the northwestern building of the row is named Rockford Lodge. It appears to have been extended to the northwest since the 2nd Edition map was surveyed. [3] SS 756 477. Rockford Lodge Youth Hostel, Brendon, Lynton, Devon; opened May 1931. The Warden in 1932 was Mrs Wilson and the hostel was thought to require expansion. After 1933 it was intended to close this hostel and open Brendon Rectory instead; in 1934 there was no hostel due to "unforseen circumstances" but Rockford Lodge reopened in July 1934; another house in the village was offered as an overflow but was turned down. The hostel operated each year of the war, with exemption from further requisitioning granted during 1941. In 1946 the hostel was not in the YHA Handbook as there was doubt as to its future but it survived with new wardens. It was closed after damage in the Lynmouth flood disaster in August 1952 but reopened. It was advertised as for sale as a going concern by the warden in November/December 1953 in Rucksack Magazine, subject to contract with the region. It closed on 12 September 1954. At the outset, this was an adopted hostely, with members making payments to the warden. From 1934 the YHA had its own warden in place. The building is a long riverside property converted from two or three cottages and used to serve teas. It served as a holiday home in 2013. [4] Rockford Youth Hostel was photographed by Vowles in c1925, when it also housed a café. A path runs alongside the building between Brendon and Watersmeet. It is currently divided into holiday cottages. Apparently some of the young customers would frequent the pub across the ford of the East Lyn River (which it faces), with a former warden claiming it was usually the girls who were worse for wear afterwards. [5]