Listed Building: ROYAL CASTLE HOTEL (1206504)

LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH SS7149 CASTLE HILL, Lynton 858-1/4/8 (East side) 03/09/73 Royal Castle Hotel - GV II Hotel. C1810, much modified internally late C19. By a Mr Colley of Barnstaple. Rendered ground floor, painted slate-hung upper level, slate roof. The hotel much reduced in size since the previous list, is now one unit, parallel range, the wing and larger range described in the previous list having been demolished; on the NE corner, rear, is a lightly attached billiard room. The front block appears to have originated as a symmetrical 3-window range, with a later extension to the right. 2 storeys. 3+2-window front, all sashes; the upper floor has a central arched 20-pane with radial bars, flanked by 12-pane, and 2 further 12-pane to the far right. The ground floor has a semi-octagonal granite porch with crenellations over a central arched opening, on 3 steps; to each side are glazed arched openings. To the left is a door with margin-pane glazing, and to the right a sash. Across this part of the frontage, broken by the porch, is the original tent canopy, with felted roof, and decorative cast-iron frieze and standards, returned also to the left. To the right is a complex gabled glazed porch over a pair of glazed doors with transom light. The left gable has a broad stack, and a lower hipped slate-hung extension, with W facing window, set above and cutting through the former tent canopy. The eaves course is formed by slates spaced as 'dentils'. The sea frontage has 3 original 12-pane and a later 4-pane sash, and a small hipped semi-octagonal conservatory with cusped lights and patterned glass, and a later C19 double-gabled extension, set back to the right. To the left, projecting forward from the front, is a former billiard room with large 20-pane sashes with Y-tracery and a central 6-panel door in a deep arched reveal; there are 2 sashes facing N, above a basement. This is in the form of a pavilion, with pyramidal hipped roof. INTERIOR: much modified, and much of the detailing is of the late C19. To left of main entry is one large space, formerly 2 rooms. To right is the staircase, rising from a lateral passage, with Minton tile floor, leading to service rooms on the ground floor. Beyond this is an inner room with an Art Nouveau fireplace surround including a beaten copper frieze and fine tiles, with decorative cast-iron grate; this is said to have been made from fragments of other fireplaces in the building, but looks consistent. The ceiling frieze is in flat scrolls. This room is enclosed by the later conservatory, at a lower level, with which it communicates through a full-width opening. Opposite the stair is a room with palmette cornice and Minton tile floor, the doorcases are reeded. The polished hardwood dogleg staircase is late C19 or early C20, with tapered octagonal balusters and capped newels, and panelling to the upper floor. Many doors are panelled with mouldings. Listing NGR: SS7212449363