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Historic Hotels in Britain

The Spread Eagle, Midhurst

The following is a brief history of hotels in Britain. Where possible we have included facilities for you to book rooms in the hotels mentioned. We use the services of the biggest on-line hotel booking provider in the UK, and offer secure on-line booking and guest reviews. The Accommodation lists on the regional pages of InfoBritain will give you a much wider range of historic hotels to look at. There is also a comprehensive general listing of hotels for the whole country.

In Roman Britain inns and lodgings were provided along roads and in main towns for officials on state business.The remains of a Roman inn can be seen at the fort of Vindolanda near Haltwhistle in Northumbria. Inns fell into disuse after the Romans left, and it was usually only in monasteries that spartan accommodation could be found. The monasteries also offered free doles of bread and ale. This service is still provided at the hospital of St Cross in Winchester. Occasionally an abbey had a hospice at a market town, at a place of pilgrimage, or at key points along the road or river routes that pilgrims might take. Examples include, the New Inn in Gloucester (booking facilities available) and the George and Pilgrim at Glastonbury. In 1180 the Eastbridge Hospital was founded in Canterbury High Street to provide accommodation for pilgrims flocking to the shine of Thomas Becket who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. The Eastbridge Hospital survives and can be visited.

Private inns also began to grow up along the same pilgrimage routes. England's oldest private inn is the Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham, which dates from the early twelfth century. The Trip to Jerusalem sits at the bottom of Castle Rock in Nottingham. The inn was established in 1189, the year that Richard the First (the Lionheart) came to the throne. Richard was immediately keen to leave for the Crusades in the Holy Land, and men that answered his call for help gathered at the Castle Rock, one of Richard's favoured strongholds. These knights and men at arms would often seek accommodation and refreshment at the inn, which became known as the Trip to Jerusalem. In Middle English the word "trip" referred to a resting place rather than a journey. It's a nice irony that the place of rest should also be named after what is now a journey. The Trip To Jerusalem today is a well known Nottingham Pub.

 

The George, Southwark

Other early private inns which survive include the George at Norton St Philip in Somerset (1397), the Spread Eagle at Midhurst (1430), and the Mermaid at Rye (early sixteenth century). Sadly the Tabard Inn at Southwark, the starting point for the pilgrimage in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, no longer exists, having been demolished in the nineteenth century. There is a commemorative plaque on the wall of Copyprints Business Centre in Borough High Street, the place where the Tabard once stood. The George which stood near the Tabard, and was built to a similar design, does survive, and is is still a working pub and restaurant, owned by the National Trust.

Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries inns developed into coaching inns, which could be found in all main towns. They can be recognised today by the large doors to one side. Some still have inscriptions dating from their coaching days. Examples include the George in Dorchester on Thames (booking facilities available), the White Horse in Chichester (booking facilities available), the George at Southwark, the Castle Arms, Mey (booking facilities available), and the the King's Arms in Lockerbie (booking facilities available). The George at Stamford in Lincolnshire also went through a period as a coaching inn. There is still a gallows sign across the road from this inn, which served as a warning to the highwaymen who made their living robbing coaches on the open road. Entering the George you will notice a door on the left marked "London", and a door on the right marked "York". These were the waiting rooms for travellers waiting for their coaches, which changed horses at the George.

Some inns were crucial to their town's prosperity, and these fortunate inns used their wealth to rebuild in grand Georgian style. This is what happened to the White Hart in Salisbury (booking facilities available).

Outside the towns inns were found at points along roads, or at cross roads. Some are very remote, serving as resting places for packmen or drovers of livestock. The Achility Hotel (booking facilities available) near Inverness is an example.

Great Eastern Hotel, Liverpool Street, London

In the nineteenth century provision of food, drink and rest, previously the sole province of inns, was largely divided between establishments that became known as hotels, pubs and restaurants. Hotels as we think of them today began in the Napoleonic wars, providing accommodation for officers on leave. They were generally run by French refugees. Into the nineteenth century pubs were at their peak of popularity, their architecture becoming distinctive, with ornate fronts, and interiors of polished wood, brass and mirrors. A very good example is the Red Lion in Duke of York Street, St James's, London. Hotels meanwhile were growing in size, and the great railway hotels such as St Pancreas (now offices), Victoria, Charing Cross, and the Great Eastern at Liverpool Street, are monuments of Victorian architecture. The Ritz, Claridges, and Browns also date from this time. Smaller hotels also remained important, and in resort towns such as Brighton, hotels were largely responsible for creating the character of the town.