The Royal Hotel, Barnstaple Street, Bideford, Devon
This building was originally a house and is believed to have been built for a merchant and mayor, John Davie, in 1688. Its workmanship is of an exceptionally high quality. It contains the best urban plasterwork of its date in Devon, rivalled only by that of the Exeter Customs House. In 1889 the New London Inn to the right was joined to the house, rebuilt or enlarged and the whole converted to a high-class hotel. Charles Kingsley is traditionally said to have written 'Westward Ho!' in the Kingsley Room, although the local historian, WH Rogers, pours scorn on the idea. A metal plaque reads 'Formerly Colonial Buildings Erected 1698'.
