Arnos Manor Hotel

Last updated
Arnos Manor Hotel
Arnos Manor Hotel 2.jpg
Arnos Manor Hotel
Location Brislington, Bristol, England
Coordinates 51°26′29″N2°33′39″W / 51.4415°N 2.5608°W / 51.4415; -2.5608
AreaSouth-west England
Built17th-19th centuries
ArchitectAttributed to James Bridges
Architectural style(s) Gothic Revival
Governing bodyPrivate
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameArnos Manor Hotel
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1201988
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameBlack Castle Public House (formerly the stables to Arnos Court)
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1292881
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameArno's Court Triumphal Arch (formerly the entrance gate to Arnos Court)
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1203684
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameFormer Convent at rear of Arnos Manor Hotel
Designated8 January 1959
Reference no.1203961
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameThe Bristol Colonnade (formerly the frontage of the Arnos Court bathhouse, now at Portmeirion)
Designated14 January 1971
Reference no.4878

Arnos Manor Hotel (formerly Mount Pleasant, Arnos Court or Arno's Court) is an 18th-century house, now a hotel, in Brislington, a southern suburb of the City of Bristol in south-west England. The original house dates from the 17th century. In around 1740 the estate was bought by William Reeve, a Bristol industrialist, who converted the first house to a service wing and built a new mansion next to it. Reeve's architect was likely James Bridges. In the 1760s, Reeve embellished the estate with the construction of a stable block in the form of a mock castle, now the Black Castle public house; an entrance archway, the Arno's Court Triumphal Arch; a bathhouse with a colonnaded frontage; and by giving the front of his new house an early Gothick makeover. The hotel is a Grade II* listed building, while the Black Castle pub is listed at Grade I, and the Triumphal Arch at Grade II*. The bathhouse was demolished in the 1950s, when its colonnaded façade was moved to Portmeirion in North Wales. This structure is also listed at Grade II*.

Contents

History

The original house on the Arnos Court site dated from the 17th century. [1] In around 1740 the estate was bought by William Reeve, who had made his money through the production of copper and brass. [2] Reeve repurposed the original house as a service wing and built a new house adjoining it in a neoclassical style. His architect may have been James Bridges. [1] In the 1760s, Reeve redeveloped the estate as a pleasure ground, using an early Gothic Revival style. Andrew Foyle, in his Somerset: North and Bristol volume in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, revised and re-issued in 2011, suggests the Gothic work may have been by the Bristolian builders, Thomas and James Paty. [a] [1] Developments included a stable block in a castellated style, constructed from compressed slag generated from Reeve's metal furnaces, [3] and an entrance arch which contains some genuine medieval fragments. [4] The court itself was given a "superficial" Gothick makeover. [1]

The estate was heavily developed in the 20th century, and the bathhouse Reeves had constructed in the grounds was demolished, its façade salvaged by Clough Williams-Ellis who re-erected it in the grounds of his fantasy village, Portmeirion, on the North Wales Coast. [1] The stables, now a public house, were separated from the court by a road widening scheme for the A4, and the arch was moved to its present location. [4] The court is now a hotel. [5]

Architecture and description

Arnos Court Hotel is a three-storey main block, with an attached service wing. The planning is entirely classical, but the main house has what Andrew Foyle describes as a "superficial Gothic trim". [1] The building was extended to the rear in the 19th century when it was used as a convent. [b] [6]

Arnos Manor Hotel is a Grade II* listed building. [2] The Black Castle pub is listed at Grade I, [3] and the Triumphal Arch at Grade II*. [4] The colonnaded façade of the bathhouse, now at Portmeirion, is also listed at Grade II*. [7] The former convent building is listed at Grade II. [6]

See also

Notes

  1. The use of a Gothic Revival style in the 1760s was progressive. Horace Walpole, who later described the Arnos stables as the "Devil's Cathedral", had begun "Gothicising" Strawberry Hill House only ten years earlier. [1]
  2. The chapel of the former convent now houses the hotel's snooker room. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashton Court</span> Mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England

Ashton Court is a mansion house and estate to the west of Bristol in England. Although the estate lies mainly in North Somerset, it is owned by the City of Bristol. The mansion and stables are a Grade I listed building. Other structures on the estate are also listed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blaise Castle Estate</span> Folly built in 1766 near Henbury in Bristol, England

Blaise Castle is a folly built in 1766 near Henbury in Bristol, England. The castle sits within the Blaise Castle Estate, which also includes Blaise Castle House, a Grade II* listed 18th-century mansion house. The folly castle is also Grade II* listed and ancillary buildings including the orangery and dairy also have listings. Along with Blaise Hamlet, a group of nine small cottages around a green built in 1811 for retired employees, and various subsidiary buildings, the parkland is listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buildings and architecture of Bristol</span>

Bristol, the largest city in South West England, has an eclectic combination of architectural styles, ranging from the medieval to 20th century brutalism and beyond. During the mid-19th century, Bristol Byzantine, an architectural style unique to the city, was developed, and several examples have survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Poyle</span> Human settlement in England

Hampton Poyle is a village in the civil parish of Hampton Gay and Poyle, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is the Cherwell in valley, about 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Kidlington and about 5 miles (8 km) north of the centre of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravensworth Castle, Lamesley</span>

Ravensworth Castle is a ruinous Grade II* listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument situated at Lamesley, Tyne and Wear, England. The building has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times, and was the seat of the Ravensworth barons, the Liddells.

James Bridges was an English architect and civil engineer working in Bristol between 1757 and 1763. He designed Royal Fort House (1760), rebuilt St Werburgh's Church (1758–61) and began the rebuilding of both Bristol Bridge and St Nicholas' Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Castle, Bristol</span> Grade I listed pub in Bristol, England

Black Castle Public House is a Grade I-listed building and public house on Junction Road in the Brislington suburb of the English city of Bristol. It is also known as Arno's Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings Weston House</span> Historic building in Bristol, England, UK

Kings Weston House is a historic building in Kings Weston Lane, Kingsweston, Bristol, England. Built during the early 18th century, it was remodelled several times, most recently in the mid-19th century. The building was owned by several generations of the Southwell family. By World War I, the house was used as a hospital and then later used as a school by the University of Bath School of Architecture. The building is today used as a conference and wedding venue, as well as a communal residence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arno's Court Triumphal Arch</span> Triumphal arch in Bristol, England

Arno's Court Triumphal Arch is an 18th-century monument in Junction Road, Brislington, Bristol, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Nicholas Church, Bristol</span> Church in Bristol, England

St Nicholas is a church in St Nicholas Street, Bristol, England. The church was bombed in the Second World War and rebuilt in 1974–1975 as a church museum. This museum closed in 2007 and the building was used by the city council as offices; in 2018 the church came back into use as an Anglican place of worship in the Diocese of Bristol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garendon Hall</span> Historic site in Between Shepshed and Loughborough

Garendon Hall was a country home near Shepshed, Leicestershire, England. It was demolished in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brislington West</span> Council ward in Bristol, England

Brislington West is a council ward of the city of Bristol, England. It covers the western part of Brislington, together with Arnos Vale and Kensington Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornwell, Oxfordshire</span> Village in Oxfordshire, England

Cornwell is a small village and civil parish about 2.5 miles (4 km) west of Chipping Norton in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, near the county border with Gloucestershire. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 66.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clearwell Castle</span> House in Gloucestershire, England

Clearwell Castle in Clearwell, the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, is a Gothic Revival house constructed from 1727. Built by Thomas Wyndham to the designs of Roger Morris, it is the earliest Georgian Gothic Revival castle in England predating better-known examples such as Strawberry Hill House by over twenty years. A home of the Wyndham family for some 150 years, the first half of the twentieth century saw a disastrous fire, and subsequent asset-stripping, which brought the castle close to ruination. Slowly restored from 1954, in the 1970s the castle housed a recording studio used by, among other major bands, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Bad Company, Queen and Sweet. Now operating as a wedding venue, the castle is a Grade II* listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nailsea Court</span> Grade I listed building in Somerset, UK

Nailsea Court in Nailsea, Somerset, England, is an English manor house dating from the 15th century. Pevsner describes the house as "historically highly instructive and interesting" and it is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westwell, Oxfordshire</span> Village in Oxfordshire, England

Westwell is a small village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) southwest of the market town of Burford in Oxfordshire. It is the westernmost village in the county, close to the border with Gloucestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardwick, Cherwell</span> Human settlement in England

Hardwick is a village in the civil parish of Hardwick with Tusmore, the Cherwell district, in Oxfordshire, England, about 4.5 miles (7 km) north of Bicester.

The Manor House in Chew Magna, Somerset, England, was a country house built in the mid-17th century. It was the principal residence of the Adlam family from the mid-1800s until 1940. The house is a Grade II* listed building and was part of the Sacred Heart Convent School. It has now been redeveloped and returned to residential use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speedwell Castle</span>

Speedwell Castle is a mid-18th-century house at the centre of Brewood, in Staffordshire, England. Nikolaus Pevsner described it as a "peach" and a "delectable folly", and it stands beside the village market place, at the head of a T-junction on Bargate Street, facing onto Stafford Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent, Little Crosby</span> Church in Merseyside, England

St. Mary's Church, Presbytery and Convent are in Back Lane, Little Crosby, Sefton, Merseyside, England. The church is an active Roman Catholic parish church in the diocese of Liverpool which was built in 1845–47. The presbytery and convent were both built in the 18th century, and altered in the 19th century. The convent originated as a chapel, and has since been converted into a private dwelling. Both the church and the former convent with its attached presbytery are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated Grade II listed buildings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Foyle & Pevsner 2011, pp. 420–421.
  2. 1 2 Historic England. "Arnos Manor Hotel (Grade II*) (1201988)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  3. 1 2 Historic England. "Black Castle Public House (Grade I) (1292881)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Arno's Court Triumphal Arch (Grade II*) (1203684)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  5. "Arnos Manor Hotel, Venue & Lounge". Arnos Manor Hotel. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Former Convent at rear of Parkside (now Arnos Manor) Hotel (Grade II) (1203961)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  7. Cadw. "Bristol Colonnade (Grade II*) (4878)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 12 November 2024.

Sources