Valley of Rocks Hotel

Summary

A late-C19 rebuild of an early-C19 resort hotel, in part to the design of Rowland Plumbe.

Reasons for Designation

The Valley of Rocks Hotel, Lynton, Devon, an early-C19 hotel rebuilt in the late C19, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a handsome and well-articulated example of High Victorian resort hotel architecture, deploying a variety of materials in an eclectic style on popular themes;
* Historic interest: representing the entrepreneurship and commercial rivalry of the embryonic tourist industry inspired by the popularity of the area (the Valley of Rocks in particular) with figures in the Romantic movement. The hotel also gave refuge to survivors of the catastrophic Lynmouth Flood in 1952;
* Degree of survival: a significant proportion of its C19 fabric and features remain, and in many cases alterations are reversible;
* Interior fittings: including a three-storey cast-iron atrium by W. McFarlane of Glasgow, stained glass by Swaine Bourne and Son, marble chimneypieces, ceiling cornices and C19 joinery throughout;
* Group value: next to the parish church of St Mary the Virgin (Grade II*) and at the centre of a small town scattered with listed buildings and overlooking the striking cliffs and seascape of the north Devon coast.

History

The adjoining settlements of Lynton and Lynmouth became travel destinations in the late C18, popularised by members of the English Romantic movement and their followers. The principal attraction was the Valley of Rocks, a dry valley about a kilometre to the west of Lynton with awe-inspiring geological formations. In 1789, the only available accommodation in Lynton was at a small public house, and by 1800 local wool dealer William Litson established the first hotel in the town, on the site of the current Globe Hotel in Queen Street. By June 1808 Litson had built a new hotel nearby, on a key site overlooking the sheer cliffs of Lynmouth, which he advertised as the Valley of Rocks Inn and Tavern and which boasted improved accommodation and stabling. The Valley of Rocks Hotel is shown in a sketch of c.1830 as three adjoining two-storey ranges in the late Georgian style with white rendered walls and a veranda overlooking the sea. The 1840 tithe map shows that there was extensive stabling attached to the west of the hotel. To the north is a large area of open land marked as Valley Meadow, also under the ownership of William Litson. By 1865, the buildings had been given castellated parapets, and the meadow landscaped into gardens around the steep path down to the beach below. There was fierce competition between hotels in the town for customers. The Prince of Wales stayed at the Castle Hotel in 1856 and the future Kaiser, Prince Frederick William of Prussia, stayed at the Valley of Rocks Hotel in 1876. Hotel improvement was seen as critical to their success.

Between c.1880 and 1890 the Valley of Rocks Hotel was extended and rebuilt in stages, first under the ownership of John Crook, and then John Heywood. Initially, the old stables were replaced with the current wing to the west. This is probably when the former stable block on the other side of Lee Road was built. This building phase is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1889, which also shows the remodelled gardens featuring a stone-built building tucked away at the rear, which is locally referred to as “the chapel”. The map shows a small internal courtyard to the new hotel wing, which in 2015 is referred to as “the void”.

Later in the decade the early-C19 buildings closer to the parish church were rebuilt to the designs of Rowland Plumbe (1838-1919). A sumptuous remodelling in the High Victorian manner with “heavy handed gaiety of fancy tile-hanging and turrets and gables with woodwork painted white” (Pevsner) it became the largest and highest-profile hotel in Lynton. The lavish three-storey atrium in the lounge was the main showpiece. The redevelopment, contemporary with that at other hotels in the area, coincided with the completion of the Cliff Railway scheme, which would solve the longstanding problem faced by visitors bringing their luggage over the vertiginous route from the shore to the town via poor roads. In Spring 1888, one of the partners in the scheme, John Heywood, bought the Valley of Rocks Hotel and parcelled off part of its land to provide a route between the town and the railway waiting room (listed at Grade II), assuring the success of the cliff railway scheme.

Throughout its history the Valley of Rocks Hotel has been host to important social occasions in the town, including the celebration following the opening of the Cliff railway in 1890 and the later opening of the railway line from Barnstaple. In August 1952 it served an important function as a refuge for the evacuees from the famous flood at Lynmouth, which took 34 lives. The guest book is on display in the hotel restaurant, in a glass case.

Later in the C20 the hotel changed ownership and fireproof board was inserted around the atrium, separating the lounge from the main stair. The roof lantern was sealed but left in situ, and other fire prevention modifications were made. Many of the bedrooms were subdivided and the restaurant wing was extended. In the C21, the building continues to operate as a hotel. The former stables opposite have been redeveloped, although the carriage arch remains in situ and retains the lettered branding for the hotel.

Details

An early-C19 hotel rebuilt and extended in the mid-and-late C19, latterly to the designs of Rowland Plumbe.

MATERIALS: the west wing is rubble stone with ashlar dressings. The east wing to the front is rubble stone with red brick dressing, clay tile hanging to the upper floor, and has a timber balcony and a stone portico. The rear of this wing is rendered, with stone dressings. The roofs are covered in clay tile and slate. The sash windows and interior joinery are timber. The cast-iron atrium fittings are supplied by W. MacFarlane of Glasgow.

PLAN: broadly rectangular on plan. On a site sloping down to the east, it is three/ four storeys plus a basement and, to the east wing, an attic floor.

EXTERIOR: the elevations encompass an eclectic mix of styles indicative of the phased building between c.1880 and 1890. The west elevations to the west wing are the earliest and symmetrically arranged with an altered central opening. The original openings to the façade and west flank have eared architraves and stone cills. The second floor openings are smaller.

The façade and flank elevations to the east wing include generous use of red brick to the window architraves and quoins. The corner bays are canted with a further three-storey canted bay on the east flank. The central entrance bay is set slightly forward and has a muscular Classical stone portico with steps up to glazed double doors with decorative glazing bars and coloured upper lights. ‘Valley of Rocks Hotel’ is painted in script on the frieze. The elevations rise to a deep attic floor with turrets, half-hipped gables and small dormers with oversailing eaves and finials. The upper floor is tile hung with clay fish scale tiles. The left of the entrance bay has a 2:2:2 arrangement of paired bays and the central pair has a door to the ground floor and a projecting timber balcony above with turned balustrade and columns and a hipped clay tile roof. Most openings have segmental heads; those to the lower ground floor have flat heads.

The rear bays of the east flank and the garden front of this wing are rendered and have a restrained Classical treatment with storey bands and eaves cornice. The openings and dormers have plain architraves and keystones (or are pedimented in some principal cases) and have deep cills with console brackets. Some openings have decorative cast-iron balconies. Sweeping stone steps with cast-iron handrails lead up to the main garden doors set in a projecting porch with reeded Corinthian pilasters. To the right the earlier wing has stone flat arches, except to the left bays at upper-floor level, which have round heads and a triangular opening in the gable end above. To the ground floor is a late-C20 addition* to the restaurant with large plate glass openings.

The windows to the attic floors are uPVC replacements*, and rainwater goods are a mixture of plastic* and cast iron. The roofs have substantial ridge stacks.

INTERIOR: the vestibule has encaustic floor tiles by the door (and possibly under carpeted areas) and timber wainscoting. There is a timber-panelled reception desk to the left, with office behind. Double doors set within a curved glazed case lead into the lounge. An atrium with cast-iron fittings, coved ceiling and lantern with margin glazing spans half of the lounge. The atrium arcades have been lined with fireproof board*. The rear of the lounge has a central sprung dance floor, probably of late C19 or early C20 date, and seating areas to each side with decoratively-tiled cast-iron fireplaces with marble chimneypieces. There are ceiling cornices across the lounge and timber joinery. A room to the right, the ‘writing room’, has a marble chimneypiece, and cornices and joinery.

Double doors lead to further bar and restaurant areas, all with C19 joinery and a further marble chimneypiece. The restaurant at the west end has been opened out into a late C20 extension, but retains some joinery and C19 stained glass by Swaine Bourne and Son, some facing into an internal courtyard. A panelled, glazed alcove built into the rear wall of the restaurant is a display case for the guest book relating to the Lynmouth Flood of 1952. The main stair stands behind a heavily moulded arcade, formerly part of the atrium ensemble but now separated by a partition. The stair has a substantial timber balustrade with vase balusters and linenfold panels. The upper floors have joinery and round arches to the stairs (originally the atrium arcades). The bedrooms (not inspected) have been subdivided and refurbished at various dates.

The compartmentalised basement is extensive and, in part probably dates from the early-C19 original phase of the hotel, as indicated by at least one stair that does not reflect the plan of the building above. The original coke boiler remains but is much altered and converted to oil. It still serves the hotel where some of the radiators to principal rooms and corridors are of late-C19 date. Further C19 features may remain in situ in the hotel (such as light fittings, boarded stained glass), including the basement, and a tunnel is thought to run under the road to former staff accommodation opposite.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Travis, J, Lynton And Lynmouth - An Illustrated History, ()
Travis, J, Lynton And Lynmouth: Glimpse of the Past, ()
Cherry, B, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Devon, (2004), 555

Websites
DSA Architect Biography Report - Rowland Plumbe, accessed 22/12/2015 from http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200939

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