The Castle Inn

Summary

Public house and former hotel, built in around 1850.

Reasons for Designation

The Castle Inn, 164 High Street, Ryde, Isle of Wight is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a C19 public house with good brickwork and architectural detailing, including an elegant curving corner entrance bay.

Historic interest:

* as part of the C19 urban development of Ryde.

Group value:

* the building forms a good group with several nearby listed buildings, contributing well to the historic streetscape.

History

The fishing village of the ‘Le Ryde’ is recorded in the C14. By the late C18, there were two separate settlements located at different ends of the route of the main street much of which was the route of the High Street, the farming community of Upper Ryde to the south, and the fishing and port community of Lower Ryde to the north by the coast.

During the early years of the C19, Ryde began to grow, culminating in the merger of Upper and Lower Ryde. From 1825 regular steam ferries began to operate between Ryde and Portsmouth. In 1829, the Ryde Improvement Act recognised Ryde as a town. A significant increase in the town’s population occurred during the first half of the C19, rising from around 1,000 in 1800 to 10,000 in the 1860s. Ryde developed as a seaside resort, encouraged by Queen Victoria’s presence on the island and the resulting boom in tourism. Its popularity continued into the C20, with the town acting as one of the main points of entry to the Isle of Wight.

The building, originally known as the Castle Hotel, was opened in around 1850 by Thomas Vanner, who also ran the stagecoach service from Ryde to Newport. He is listed on the 1871 census with his wife and family residing at the Castle Hotel. The building appears on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1893; 1:2500) with a roughly square footprint. This remained largely unchanged until the mid-C20 when the adjacent building was modified, with modifications to the rear of the public house including the creation of a small yard.

Details

Public house and former hotel, built in around 1850. The building was previously listed as The Castle Hotel.

MATERIALS: brick building, with painted brick on the ground floor and stucco detailing, with slate roof.

PLAN: a corner plot with a curved north-east corner.

EXTERIOR: three-storey building. A stucco plinth runs around the street elevations and there is a stucco block course and cornice between the ground and first floor. There is a two-window elevation which faces onto the High Street, a curved window bay with the main entrance with a modern door and rectangular overlight, and a three-window elevation on John Street. On the ground floor are tall windows with segmental-arch heads. There is a later door and flat-arch window at the south end of the High Street elevation. In the centre of the John Street elevation is a blocked doorway boarded by a stucco surround with chamfered edges and a cornice above. Some of the ground-floor windows are decorated with etched detailing and coloured glass. There is an additional doorway, at the east end of John Street elevation, within a later two-storey single-bay addition, providing access to the rear yard. To the first floor of the main range, within the High Street elevation, is a canted-bay window and a bow window, both with three lights containing sashes, as well as aprons, and cornices. The other windows on this floor are three-over-three sashes in recessed openings, with block cills and segmental brick arches. The second floor has smaller three-over-three sashes. The windows on the corner follow the curve and have stucco lintels. The street elevations are topped by a parapet with a projecting cornice. The building is topped by a double-pile slate roof with rendered stacks.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

411672

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Walk summary, accessed 16 February 2024 from https://iwc.iow.gov.uk/azservices/documents/1376-ryde-beer-and-bus-walk.pdf
1871 census, accessed 16 February 2024 from https://rshg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/990-internalfile54.pdf
History of Ryde, accessed 16 February 2024 from https://historicrydesociety.com/historic-ryde-society-archive/history-of-ryde-2/
History of Ryde, accessed 16 February 2024 from https://rshg.org.uk/history-of-ryde/

Other
Isle of Wight Council, Conservation Area Appraisal for the Ryde Conservation Area, April 2011
Isle of Wight Historic Environment Service entry 14417 - MIW10378 The Castle Inn, 164 High Street, Ryde

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