Bedford Lodge Hotel

Details

NEWMARKET

TL66SW BURY ROAD 177-1/0/6 (Northwest side) 30-OCT-06 11 Bedford Lodge Hotel

GV II Hotel, formerly house. c.1820, extended c.1885, 1904-5 and late C20. Stuccoed brick with scribed masonry joints, hipped slate roof with boxed eaves supported on widely spaced timber brackets, red brick stacks with cornices.
PLAN: double depth block with later C19 wing at rear.
EXTERIOR: two storeys; at first floor level on front and south west side a band defined by raised mouldings. The front six windows wide; on the ground floor a projecting, single storey entrance porch with pilasters at the corners, and formerly a cornice below coped parapet; in porch front a semi-circular-arched doorway with moulded keystone, glazed doors and fanlight, and in each side of porch a semi-circular arched sash with glazing bars; to left of porch two sashes, to right of porch three sashes, and on the first floor six sashes, all with slender glazing bars [3x4 panes] in openings with moulded architraves. On the southwest side two full-height canted bays; on the ground floor in the front of each bay a tall, wide sash, and in each side a tall, narrow sash, all with glazing bars [3x5 panes in the fronts and 2x5 panes in the sides]; and on the first floor shorter sashes [3x4 panes in the fronts and 2x4 panes in the sides], all in openings with moulded architraves.
Late C20 extensions for hotel at rear and to west of C19 block are not of special architectural interest.
INTERIOR: most reception rooms on ground floor now connected by inserted openings; original features include panelled window shutters, moulded plaster cornices, and staircase with stick balusters.
HISTORY: Bedford Lodge was originally a house in very extensive grounds. It was built circa 1820 for the sixth Duke of Bedford as his Newmarket residence. Subsequently within the same small estate were Bedford House and Stables (q.v.)(and then including Bedford Cottage, now Rockfield House), and the former Bedford Lodge Stables, now separately occupied as Highfield Stables (q.v.), and Shalfleet Stables (q.v.). After the death of the seventh Duke in 1861 the estate was purchased by Sir Joseph Hawley, who sold it on to the Duke's former trainer, William Butler. Butler demolished the Lodge's original stabling and sold the Lodge to Joe Dawson who built the main range of stables adjoining it (now Highfield Stables) in 1864. After Dawson's death in 1880 the Lodge and stables were bought by the racehorse manager, Captain J.O.Machell (who had been at Bedford House and Stables since the 1860's). He extended the Lodge c.1885 to provide additional accommodation, including a saloon for boxing matches, for his lessee, George Alexander Baird, racehorse owner and gentleman jockey. After Baird's death in 1893 both the Lodge and stables were sold to the Earl of Derby and for him there were major additions 1904-5 by John Leslie. The house was converted to a hotel in the 1920's, when the stables were re-named Shalfleet Stables, the major part in turn becoming Highfield Stables in 1963.
REFERENCE: Onslow, R: The Squire, A Life of George Alexander Baird: London: 1980: 58.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

505821

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Onslow, R, The Squire, A Life of George Alexander Baird, (1980), 58

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