A HISTORY OF THE WOODLANDS HOTEL Sidmouth

Sir Walter Raleigh, The Prince Regent (King George IV), The Princess of Wales Princess Caroline, The Lord High Chamberlain Lord Gwydir, Sir William Peryam, Admiral Digby of Trafalgar & Lady Jane Elizabeth Digby have all owned, lived in or visited the building now known as the Woodlands Hotel.

History can usually be found at any crossroads in England. So it is with Woodlands. On this crossroads, once the main coach road made from rough stone, has stood an “inhabited building since time immemorial”.

So said Peter Orlando Hutchinson, the best-known local historian. However, even Hutchinson, who lived in the nineteenth century, did not know of the ancient tunnels under the garden terrace of Woodlands. They lay hidden for centuries until discovered during excavations in 1971. The archaeologists who examined the ancient stonework – still in perfect condition – thought it possibly Roman, but more likely of medieval origin. This being so, we have at Woodlands the oldest complete work in Sidmouth.

The construction is a large circular chamber with a domed ceiling containing a well some six feet in diameter. The water level is 15ft below the end flowerbed. In 1971, the water was pure and drinkable, the tunnels and chamber dry and the air clean. This would have been the source of fresh water for all those who lived here until pipes were laid.

The earliest record we currently have of Woodlands is a map showing Sidmouth in the Thirteenth Century. A copy of this map can be seen in the hall. The map clearly shows Old Hayes (The Woodlands) as one of the few properties in the town in the early 1200’s. We assume that the building was a large house at this time, though we do not yet know who lived here, or how long there had been a dwelling on the site. ‘Hayes’ is an old Devonian word synonymous with a hay meadow, so it would indicate a pastoral use going back through medieval times.

In 1578 Sir William Peryam he leased a manor in Sidmouth from Sir Walter Raleigh and his two sons, Carew and Walter The document still survives in the Devon Record Office. It is carefully preserved because the signatures of the Raleighs are on it! That house is now the Woodlands Hotel in Sidmouth. Sir Walter was born not far away at Hayes Barton. Sir Walter is famous for bringing tobacco and the potato to England, his poetry and his relationship with Queen Elizabeth. he was of course later tried for treason and executed. His wife carried his head in a box with her for many years after!

Source: www.creditonparishchurch.org.uk/Peryam.html

Just down from The Woodlands are two thatched cottages, both much older than Regency times despite one being called “Gwydir Cottage”. These cottages would probably have been here at this time as well, but may have been farm buildings.

The Thirteenth Century map illustrates how small Sidmouth was, and it remained largely unchanged until Georgian times. There were many fields and a few farm workers’ cottages reaching down to the Marsh, the Ham and Port Royal, where a cluster of fishermen’s cottages stood near the pebble ridge. The Radway is now a pub ‘The Radway Inn’, and can be seen on the map at a crossroads by the old cross. It may well have been an Inn at the time of the map. The building labelled the Vicarage is now called the Shrubbery (formerly North End Cottage), and that was the last farmhouse in Sidmouth at the time.

The map also shows the old farmhouse at Woolbrook. Being a mile from the sea, Woolbrook was not considered part of Sidmouth. Now called Fairpark House, it is an original Devon longhouse, which once had a traditional spiral staircase by the large inglenook fireplace that led to the first floor living quarters. All the upstairs rooms led off each other with no passageways to separate them, and the ground floor still has the original wide cattle door directly opposite the back door; this was normal in those days in order to allow the cattle in the front and out the back. In the winter this kept the cattle safe and the upstairs warm.

For centuries Old Hayes slumbered with its open fields, orchards and meadows. At this time, however, the track or road to Peak Hill would have been between Old Hayes and the stream. It is not until much later in the story of the Woodlands that the stream becomes part of the grounds.

The “Journals and letters of Samuel Curwen” state: - In August, 1776, situated very low in a bottom or vale Sidmouth consisted of about a hundred houses, built with mud walls and thatched roofs, except for a very few built with Cornish tile and some of shingle.

Around 1800 the Revd J. Coplestone was living in Old Hayes, and turned one of the barns into his private chapel. This is now the kitchen, but the bell is still in place and can be seen from the landing outside Room 17. The Parish Church records a Caroline Coplestone, perhaps the Reverend’s daughter, who was born in 1788 and died in 1880.

Sidmouth and East Devon attracted top people from the court: Addington, the Prime Minister and later Lord Sidmouth. The Duke of York installed his mistress, Mary Ann Clark at Exmouth, where she made a fortune selling commissions in the Army. In 1836 William Pinney built the house next door to Woodlands, Spring Gardens, which the Duchess of Northumberland lived in, as at a later date did the Marchioness of Exeter.

FROM MANOR TO ‘COTTAGE ornée’

Probably the next owner of Woodlands was The Lord High Chamberlain, Lord Gwydir.

What is the High chamberlain you may ask? The Lord Great Chamberlain is ofne of the great offices of state. He has charge over the Palace of Westminster, and especially of the House of Lords, and technically bears the Sword of State at state openings and closings of Parliament, though this duty is usually delegated to a Lord of Parliament who is also a Field Marshal. The Lord Great Chamberlain also has a major part to play in royal coronations, having the right to dress the monarch on coronation day and to serve the monarch water before and after the coronation banquet, and also being involved in investing the monarch with the insignia of rule. He served in this role to George III & George IV. At the coronation of George IV the ceremony started late as Lord Gwydir was not ready!

 Lord Gwydir purchased the old house in about 1806 and immediately set about altering it into the most picturesque thatched cottage ornée, spending a great deal of money in the process. Peter Burrell (Lord Gwydir) was not an aristocrat, being the son of a Commissioner of Excise of the same name, and his wife Elizabeth, whose father, John Lewis, lived in Hackney. He was born in 1754 in their house in Upper Grosvenor Street, and in 1761 was sent to Eton, and later attended St John’s College, Cambridge. He served two periods as an MP, the first from 1776-80 from Haslemere, and then from 1782-96 from Boston. He had entered Parliament as a Tory, but following the 1783 coalition, voted with the Whigs against Pitt and was a keen supporter of the prosecution of the American War. He was an elegant, athletic man, and an able speaker. It was with this man that Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth, daughter of the 3rd Duke of Ancaster and his second wife, Mary Parton, fell in love. She fretted so much that her mother, fearing for her daughter’s health, finally agreed to the union. They were married at Ancaster House in Berkeley Square on 23rd February 1779; though it was said by those that knew the couple well that he was “never naturally partial to his wife”.

In 1806 Lord Gwydir was overseeing the work to remodel Woodlands when The Princess of Wales and future queen Caroline of Brunswick re Queen visited him and The Woodlands on the 21st May 1806. ( Source: Historic Sidmouth - Published by Sid Vale Association)

It is known that the Prince Regent (future King George IV) came to stay though as yet I have not been able to trace the date(s). However it is striking to compare the similarity between the Royal Lodge (above) built by Nash for George IV  in Windsor Great park and the Woodlands.

BLACKADDER

As a result of family connections he moved in the highest social circles and was a friend of the Prince Regent, ‘Woodland Cottage’ was visited by many of his society friends. The prince Regent later went on to become King George IV. He was immortalised by the Brighton Royal Pavilion/ Buckingham Palace, a riotous marriage and coronation and by Hugh Laurie in Blackadder III! The garden was a particularly picturesque feature, and much commented upon. There was a loggia along the north side supported by pillared oak trunks and roofed with rustic branches with the bark left on, these were planted with roses and honeysuckle which twined up, the whole terminating in a little room of similar design all surrounded by orchards. As with many great houses of the time, when Lord Gwydir was not in residence, visitors were admitted to view the house and gardens.

At this time he also rented Crammer’s Orchard, adjacent to the Woodlands, from Sidmouth Manor. This was expensive at 8 guineas a year (£8.40). These grounds were later purchased for the Woodlands, and although this area remained an orchard in Lord Gwydir’s time, later prints show Woodlands while it was still a thatched house with sheep grazing by the stream. He also shared the lease of a coach house and stables on the opposite side of Cotmaton Road (now Gwydir Cottage) with a Mr Andrews of Fortfield Terrace.

In 1819 in a letter to a friend, the Duke of Kent Father of Queen Victoria mentions that there was “the possibility of receiving the offer of the loan of Lord Gwydir’s Cottage at Sidmouth”, In the end he took residence at Woolbrook Cottage (now Royal Glen Hotel) as it offered more privacy. Here the future queen narrowly missed being shot by accident. The Duke was not so fortunate and died 6 weeks after his arrival heavily in debt. It is said that the Sidmouthians seized the body at Bowd and held onto it until his family paid up.

It seems likely that the house had not been in regular use by Lord Gwydir or his family for some time, for he was badly affected by gout, and a year later, on 29th June 1820, he died at Brighton, aged 65. On the death of Lord Gwydir, Brooks and Co., of 28, Old Bond Street, were retained to dispose of ‘Woodland Cottage’.

When Henry Digby bought ‘Woodland Cottage’ from the estate of Lord Gwydir, he was already a Rear Admiral with a distinguished naval career stretching back to 1783 and further promotions were to come: to Vice Admiral in 1830, and he was still in the service in 1841 at which time he was Commander in Chief at Sheerness.

Sir Henry's signature on the Deeds of Hotel

In command of the Africa (64g) he took a leading part in the battle of Trafalgar 1805 in which his ship was seriously engaged.   

 He was one of Nelson's Band of Brothers and was captain of the smallest ship of the line present that day; the 64 gun Africa. The night before battle, his ship became dangerously separated from the rest of the British navy. He had drifted 6 miles to the North. He managed to rejoin battle only after having  exchanged fire with most of the allied fleet's van ((The front most ships in a line of ships). Like the other captains he was determined to capture a ship or Prize. The biggest ship in the world was at that stage the Spanish Flagship - Santissima Trinidad which carried 134 guns. Digby headed straight for her and got a crew aboard to demand surrender. A most impertinent act! 

In a letter to his uncle, the Hon. R. Digby (later Lord Digby), at Minterne he wrote of his part in the battle:

HMS Africa at sea off the Straits November 1, 1805

My dear Uncle,

I write merely to say I am well, after having been closely engaged for 6 hours on 21st October. For details, being busy to the greatest degree, I have lost all my masts in consequence of the action and my ship is otherwise cut to pieces but sound in the bottom. My killed and wounded number 63, and many of the latter I shall lose if I do not get into port...

After passing through the line in which position I brought down the fore masts of Santisima Trinidad mounting 140 guns, after which I engaged with pistol shot L'Intrepide 74 guns, which afterwards was struck and burnt, Orion and Conqueror coming up. A little boy that stayed with me is safe. Twice on the poop I was left alone, all about me being killed or wounded. I am very deaf.

http://www.nelsonsnavy.co.uk/battle-of-trafalgar.html

His daughter, Jane, was a famous beauty who scandalised society through her numerous liaisons before finally marrying with an Arab Bedouin sheikh

Her exploits have been recorded in two recent books. I can thoroughly recommend A Scandalous Life by Mary S Lovell. Mary Recently visited the hotel and donated a copy of Jane in arab dress.

Amongst the little gems it reveals she was the original victim of the word "cad". Her divorce went to both Houses of Parliament and was so sensational that it led to pushing off the adverts off the front page of the Times.

She had children by a UK cabinet minister, an Austrian Prince, the King of Bavaria, and probably the king of Greece before settling down with her Bedouin sheikh. A woman ahead of her times?

Rebel Heart
The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby
By Mary S. Lovell 

Passion's Child 
           The extraordinary life of Jane Digby 
           London, 1976 
                               by Margaret Fox Schmidt

A brief synopsis of her life can be seen here -  http://www.theyeatfish.ch/Unterseiten/people/jane_digby.htm

The garden was further improved when Shirley Newdick, Esq. purchased the property on the 2nd September 1826 for the sum of £1850. The 1836 guide to Sidmouth stated: ‘the present possessor of Woodlands Cottage has added much to its appearance by laying out the grounds into a pretty lawn through which trickles a clear and crystal stream. Fine creepers entwine themselves in rich profusion.’ One such creeper remains today – the very gnarled wisteria against the original brick wall at the North of the garden. The Monterey Pine dates from 1836. Up until this point, the garden had been primarily an orchard, but it was now laid out with a large lawn and more formal plantings.

Mr Newdick was responsible for ‘re-aligning’ the lower section of Mill Lane (now Cotmaton Road), which resulted in the present staggered crossroads outside the hotel, it having previously been a straightforward cross. This allowed a southward extension of the garden to include the stream. The stream now flowed through the garden in a formal channel, Shirley Newdick having laid the cobble stone bed to the stream. A new boundary wall was built and planted with climbers. We can only imagine the reaction of planning authorities today if a road was simply rebuilt and a stream claimed as private property! The garden was also extended to the west. The lands now stretched to the north as far as Broadway (excluding Spring Gardens), to the east along the current road leading to Bulverton, to the south along the road leading to Peak Hill, and to the west as far as Liberty Hall. The total land area was about 100 acres, with the main house in the southeast corner of the grounds.

Shirley Newdick is named as a member of the company formed in 1836 for the purpose of constructing a harbour at the western end of Sidmouth beach. In the event, after raising a considerable sum of money, the project fell through and the shareholders lost their entire investment.

The cottage was sold sometime before 1851 to William Johnson. He had travelled widely, and been living in Italy for many years, when the wars and political upheavals associated with Italian unification decided him, along with many other British Nationals, to leave Italy. William Johnson was a wealthy man and wanted to continue his Mediterranean life in an English setting. He found the thatched roof to be in such poor condition that he decided on a permanent solution to thatching. He replaced the thatch with hexagonal slates, which were expensive due to the wastage in cutting them, and ordered the elaborate terracotta decoration for the newly formed gables and roof ridges from Italy. These were delivered to Sidmouth by horse and cart to create what Country Life has described as a ‘gay frolic.’ The work is unlikely ever to be repeated. He also changed the name to Woodlands. These alterations give us a building recognisable today, and the house changed little for the next 100 years.

The 1851 British Census shows that William Johnson was head of the family living at Woodlands, at this time he was aged 50 and he gave his occupation as a proprietor of land and railway. He lived in the house with his wife, Charlotte, and their children Frederick, Walter, Edward and Rose, aged 8, 5, 3, and 1. Also living in the house was William’s unmarried sister Jane, aged 48, and the servants. There were 3 servants living in the house at the time; Elizabeth and Ann Gay from Uplyme, aged 24 and 21, both housemaids, and Ann Jones aged 27, the cook, originally from Doddiscombsleigh (on Dartmoor). These women were all unmarried.

In 1867 William Kynaston Jolliffe RN bought Woodlands, he died in 1881, leaving it to his wife, along with enough money for her to repay the mortgage. She in turn died in 1886 and left it to Mrs Shirley Kynaston Stringer who in turn sold it on quickly. The house went through many different owners in quick succession at this time; Mr Edward Taylor bought Woodlands from Mrs Stringer in 1888, but had little time to enjoy the house as he died in 1890, leaving Woodlands to his sons John Allen and Walter. In 1892 they sold the property to Mrs Augusta Emily Lennox (a widow), who also owned the Belmont, for £2120. From a map attached to the deeds, we can see that the garden was at this time the same size as when the Pinneys bought the property in the 1960s – one acre and one rood. We do not know for certain who sold off the grounds, but it is likely to have been William Johnson.

Mrs Lennox sold Woodlands to Dr & Mrs Arthur Robin in 1909 for £2825. They moved from Woodford Glen, Essex with their four sons and had both fallen in love with the house and garden while Dr Robin was recuperating from illnesses related to severe injuries received in the Boer War. Dr Robin was a G. P. – a graduate of Glasgow Training. His wife was American, born in Boston. They both loved the unique house and large beautiful garden.

Dr Robin apparently soon had a good medical practice. There were two other GPs in Sidmouth at the time and an excellent Cottage Hospital ‑ small but efficiently staffed.

Mr Robin (the Doctor’s Son) returned to his childhood home almost eighty years later as a guest in the hotel. He had very vivid memories of how the house and gardens were in the early 1900s, and we were very lucky that he also brought some photographs from this time, which can be seen in the lounge. Extending from the house was the large lawn with many rose bushes. Behind this was a grassy bank leading up to a further large lawn the size of a tennis court, but used as a croquet lawn as well as for badminton, football, cricket and other games.

Beyond this there was a high grassy bank and on top of this a line of trees, then a path and the wall to the next house. The trees were wonderful – a huge May on the right, and then a Medlar tree, and at least three smaller sycamores. On the left of the lawn were three huge pine trees, one of which still remains, and many shrubs beside the bamboo. To the left of the lawns and the stream with its pond was a path which led right up to the top of the garden where a tall wooden gate opened out to Cotmaton Road, this path went on round to join the top one. On the north side of the two lawns, extending from the house all the way up to the top was a broad walk broken by stone. At the top lawn the walk led through arches, the pillars of which were completely hidden by climbing shrubs (perhaps the same ones put in by Shirley Newdick). At the right hand top corner area, screened off with a yew hedge, was where Froome, the full-time gardener, had an almost perpetual bonfire – a marvellous place for roasting chestnuts!

Also, at the top right hand corner there was a latched door leading to a large shed full of garden tools, lawn mowers, etc, and another door to the kitchen garden. This was as large an area as the front garden and had a brick wall on three sides. Below this, near the house a door led to a big potting shed, a double garage and a large wood shed. This in turn led to the front drive and the front of the house.

Inside the house Mr Robin noticed many other changes on both the ground and upper floors. On the ground floor the dining room had been as far away from the kitchen as possible - in the large room facing the garden and the stream (Room 1). All meals were carried across the hall, through what was Dr Robin’s waiting room when he was practising, then the small anteroom (the lounge) and so to the dining room. Dr Robin’s consulting room and his dispensary were facing the front – now bedrooms 2 & 3.

Next to the dining room facing the garden and with a French window was the drawing room (Room 4) with very ‘posh’ furniture and curtains, its door opened from the hall. Next to this was the ‘school room’ also with French windows and the domain of the wonderful governess Miss Webb and where the boys spent most of their time (Room 5). Next to this was the morning room, where the present (lower) dining room is. This room was then the living room – with a log fire and the two French windows facing the garden, the furthest one opening onto a covered patio and then to the paved path in the garden.

In the hall, there was of course the lovely staircase with banisters made for small boys to slide down and the recess behind it, where were the grandfather clock and the telephone – where the bar is now. From the hall a huge covered door led to the stone passage to the extensive kitchen area and the back stairs up to the nursery end of the upper floor. The back stairs are still there.

On the upper floor, on the south side were one large bathroom (Room 11), a small dressing room (Room 12) and three stairs up to Dr Robin’s bedroom (Room 14) and the spare room (Room 15). It is this area, which had shown the most striking changes, being ‘carved up into a number of guest rooms en-suite’, but the original room sizes have now been restored – from 7 bedrooms and a bathroom to 4 bedrooms now. At the north end of this floor there was a large bathroom and ‘night nursery’ and bedrooms for the nanny, the cook and the parlour maid. Froome the gardener lived in a little house on the Sidford Road.

Life in Woodlands and Sidmouth during the 1914–1918 war was an interesting experience, and suffices to say a very quiet and almost peaceful one, with remarkably few restrictions and no devastating incidents. The family hardly faced any rationing and with the large vegetable garden and keeping chickens were well fed. After the First World War Woodlands still had a governess, a nanny, cook, parlour maid and gardener. Dr Robin and his wife regretfully left the home they adored to enable their sons to attend the school in Scotland where he had been educated.

The Woodlands was sold at auction on the 19th May 1921, by Knight, Frank & Rutley of London W1, the advert for this sale can be seen in the Sun Room. The new owner, Cordelia Beatrice Congdon Gilbert (later Brendon) leased it to Miss Ferry to be run as a Hotel, which it has remained ever since. On her death in 1954 it was left to Jessie Mabel Young. Mrs Young and Mrs Ferry agreed to sell the hotel to Pinney Properties Limited for £23,500 in 1966, and £6,250 was to be paid to Miss Ferry in consideration of termination of her lease.

In 1951 The hotel was amongst the first buildings to be listed in the country. (The listing process started in 1950)

The listing of the time is supplied below.

STATION ROAD 1. 1633 (West Side) Woodlands Hotel SY 1287 1/35 12.10.51. II 2. Circa 1815 built as "Cottage ornee" for Lord Gwydir. One and 2 storeys rough cast. It was originally thatched. Present roof mid C19 octagonal slates, hipped gable ends. Very elaborate foliate carved ridge tiles. West garden front has 3 large gabled casement dormers with very ornate unusual carved bargeboards, and finials, added no doubt at same time as slate roof. Ground floor has 5 Gothic French windows. Side elevation facing garden to south has 3 sash windows with pointed top panes, moulded frames, 2 with similar ornate bargeboards to small gables over. Similar sash window and later rectangular bay with glazed door to ground floor. The entrance front has projecting 2 storey wings with hipped slate roofs, same ornate ridge tiles. Right hand wing lids 2 gabled casements and 2 semi dormers to lower section all with ornate carved bargeboards. Ground floor has rectangular bay with 3-light Gothic casement, one similar but blind bay with side door and large sash window with Gothic glazing. The left hand wing has 1 blind window and a lancet on 1st floor with drip moulds over. Ground floor has rectangular bay with 5-light Gothic casement and sash window with pointed top light. The main block between wings has a 2-light casement with pointed top panes and drip mould, centred on 1st floor. 3 bay plain arcade to ground floor, the entrance set back with angled aide windows, 4-centred arched sashes with intersecting glazing bars. Door of 6 moulded panels with ornate lion head knocker. Very picturesque building.

The Sun Room was also added in 1992, this was not as easy to build as it might look as the stream had to be temporarily diverted. The Pinneys continued to run the Hotel until October 1998 when they sold it to Lynn & Russell. They demolished the old Stable block which was in the car park and had been converted to (leaky!) staff accommodation, and set about refurbishing the hotel, restoring many bedrooms to original room sizes dating from the nineteenth century. Through Russell's & Lynn's hard work the hotel appears in the good hotel guide on two successive years

January 2005 Jo, Bruce, Paul & Clare take over the hotel and continue to develop, improve and restore the hotel with the aim of making it one of the best loved hotels and restaurants in England.

Paul’s last visit to the Devon County Records Office brought to light a couple of other interesting possible clues

The Spring that runs through the garden was once the source of all fresh water of the town.

What is at the bottom of the well? What does the subterranean ice house look like?

What were the exact dates of the visits of The Prince Regent.

If you know the answers to any of these please contact us!

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861)

Lived over the road at Cedar Lawn with her father and brothers 1833-35.

Source: http://www.jasa.net.au/seaside/sdw.htm

Jane discovered Lyme Regis in Dorset two years later; she once said of it "a very strange stranger it must be who does not feel charms in the immediate environs of Lyme". Lyme, with its dramatic Cobb forming a cradle for the town's harbour, and nearby Special Site of Scientific Interest the Golden Cap Estate, no doubt fired her imagination. The film version of Persuasion was shot in Lyme.
 

Over the years, the Fellowes family benefited particularly from the interest of the 1st Lord Gwydir, Lord Great Chamberlain. The relationship was an important one for Lord Gwydir promoted the family at Court. In 1817, Lord Gwydir secured for William Fellowes the position of Physician Extraordinary to the Regent. William Dorset was to become Gwydir's Secretary and Deputy and, following the latter's death shortly before the coronation of George IV in 1821, 'acting' Lord Great Chamberlain for that event.

"Dr Fellowes eventually settled and practised as a physician in Bath, becoming a great friend of, among others, the family of Jane Austen - and looking after her dying father.

It is an intriguing proposition that Fellowes may have asked Gwydir if the Austen's could use his seaside retreat.

Author of the Time Machine, The Invisible man & The War of the worlds wrote a short horror tale about Sidmouth. Read it here!

http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/wells/searaid10.html

The tale of Little Pig Robinson (published in 1930) whilst on a family holiday to Devon in 1883. The story takes place in the ‘pretty little town’ of ‘Stymouth’ – a fictional blend of Sidmouth and Teignmouth in south Devon and Lyme Regis in Dorset.

painting of Sidmouth by Beatrix Potter