Description

LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH

SS7149 NORTH WALK, Lynton
858-1/4/43 (South side)
Seawood Hotel including area
railings

GV II

Detached villa, now hotel. Reputedly built 1843. Rendered,
slate roofs.
Set high above North Walk to a terrace, and close against the
rear rock face, the building has a symmetrical frontage with
cross-gabled end wings slightly brought forward from the
centre; looks like semi-detached pair but plan shows it to
have been built as one residence, with end entry (right) to a
long hall with lateral staircase, and central front parlour
across both bays. A secondary rear stair was originally
contained in a projecting turret, but replaced internally by
an early C20 stair to the upper 2 floors.
2 storeys, attics and basement; 1:2:1-window front. The top
floor has arched lights to the end gables and central gabled
face dormers, and the first floor has sashes with vertical
bars and margin-panes. At the ground floor are French windows
on stone cills, but opening to access steps over the basement
area. Basement lights, in deep reveals, sashed. The return
gable to the left is in one bay with similar fenestration,
with a rear gabled wing including a segmental-headed dormer.
The right return is similar, but with doorway in the wing to
the rear, with the original panelled door in reveals and
pilaster doorcase.
All roofs very steep, with decorative barge-boards, and
windows have raised rendered surrounds with keystones and
projecting jamb-stones on stone cills. Corners of end
pavilions have alternating quoins. Narrow but deep stacks,
with a rendered frieze band, and mainly with the original
terracotta pots, each side of the central section. On 3 sides
is a narrow area enclosed by a stone coping carrying low
cast-iron decorative railings, returned to sets of steps to
the ground-floor windows as full-height balustrades.
INTERIOR: original details and fitting retained to a large
extent. Most of the 4-panelled doors in architraves remain,
and rooms have moulded and embellished cornices in varied
patterns. Windows are shuttered. The central room has a
painted marble fireplace, and dining room, at E end, has a
marble fireplace, and frieze with roses and grapes; both fires
have cast-iron grates. The long lateral straight-flight stair
has fine turned balusters with hardwood handrail and open
scrolled string, and arched central window has tinted and
etched glass. The basement was not inspected.
One of a series of hotels in North Walk, this retains most of
its original detailing, and is a late example of Regency
picturesque.

Listing NGR: SS7192049635

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26505248

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

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)