Description

LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH

SS7149 CASTLE HILL, Lynton
858-1/4/8 (East side)
03/09/73 Royal Castle Hotel

GV II

Hotel. c1810, much modified internally late C19. By a Mr
Colley of Barnstaple. Rendered ground floor, painted
slate-hung upper level, slate roof. The hotel much reduced in
size since the previous list, is now one unit, parallel range,
the wing and larger range described in the previous list
having been demolished; on the NE corner, rear, is a lightly
attached billiard room. The front block appears to have
originated as a symmetrical 3-window range, with a later
extension to the right.
2 storeys. 3+2-window front, all sashes; the upper floor has a
central arched 20-pane with radial bars, flanked by 12-pane,
and 2 further 12-pane to the far right. The ground floor has a
semi-octagonal granite porch with crenellations over a central
arched opening, on 3 steps; to each side are glazed arched
openings. To the left is a door with margin-pane glazing, and
to the right a sash. Across this part of the frontage, broken
by the porch, is the original tent canopy, with felted roof,
and decorative cast-iron frieze and standards, returned also
to the left. To the right is a complex gabled glazed porch
over a pair of glazed doors with transom light. The left gable
has a broad stack, and a lower hipped slate-hung extension,
with W facing window, set above and cutting through the former
tent canopy. The eaves course is formed by slates spaced as
'dentils'.
The sea frontage has 3 original 12-pane and a later 4-pane
sash, and a small hipped semi-octagonal conservatory with
cusped lights and patterned glass, and a later C19
double-gabled extension, set back to the right. To the left,
projecting forward from the front, is a former billiard room
with large 20-pane sashes with Y-tracery and a central 6-panel
door in a deep arched reveal; there are 2 sashes facing N,
above a basement. This is in the form of a pavilion, with
pyramidal hipped roof.
INTERIOR: much modified, and much of the detailing is of the
late C19. To left of main entry is one large space, formerly 2
rooms. To right is the staircase, rising from a lateral
passage, with Minton tile floor, leading to service rooms on
the ground floor. Beyond this is an inner room with an Art
Nouveau fireplace surround including a beaten copper frieze
and fine tiles, with decorative cast-iron grate; this is said
to have been made from fragments of other fireplaces in the
building, but looks consistent. The ceiling frieze is in flat
scrolls. This room is enclosed by the later conservatory, at a
lower level, with which it communicates through a full-width
opening. Opposite the stair is a room with palmette cornice
and Minton tile floor, the doorcases are reeded. The polished
hardwood dogleg staircase is late C19 or early C20, with
tapered octagonal balusters and capped newels, and panelling
to the upper floor. Many doors are panelled with mouldings.

Listing NGR: SS7212949357

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26501714

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)