Burford Bridge Hotel

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Burford Bridge Hotel
The Burford Bridge Hotel - geograph.org.uk - 1356677.jpg
Old London Road frontage
Surrey UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Former namesFox and Hounds (1254-1882)
Hare and Hounds (1882-1905)
General information
Locationfoot of Box Hill
near Dorking, Surrey
AddressOld London Road, Mickleham
Town or city Dorking
Country England
Coordinates 51°15′15″N0°19′19″W / 51.2542°N 0.3219°W / 51.2542; -0.3219
Current tenants Mercure Hotels, Accor
Opened1254
Renovated2014
OwnerMoorfield Group (since 2007)
Renovating team
Other designersTrevillion Interiors
Other information
Number of rooms57
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameBurford Bridge Hotel
Designated11 June 1973
Reference no. 1028876

Burford Bridge Hotel is a historic hotel at the edge of the village of Mickleham, Surrey, England. It is to the south of Leatherhead and north of Dorking at the foot of Box Hill on the River Mole.

Contents

The hotel has been owned by Moorfield Group (a UK private equity firm) since 2007 and is operated by Accor Hotels under their mid-market Mercure brand. [1]

History

The hotel was founded in 1254 as the 'Fox and Hounds', and parts of the present buildings date back to the 16th century. The land on which the hotel stands was a detached part of the medieval Manor of Thorncroft (in Leatherhead) [2] and was held in the mid-thirteenth century by Walter de Merton, the founder of Merton College, Oxford University. [3]

The main building, adjoining Old London Road, dates from the early nineteenth century. [4] In 1882 the hotel became the 'Hare & Hounds', and was commonly known as the Burford Bridge. In 1905, Surrey Public Trust purchased it from Sir Trevor Lawrence, and it changed permanently to the Burford Bridge Hotel, [5] later merging with Trusthouses in 1948.

A 16th century mediaeval tithe barn from the nearby village of Abinger Hammer was re-erected adjoining the hotel in 1934 and now forms the core of the banqueting suite. [4] The barn is alleged to include beams from ships of the Spanish Armada. [4] [1] An outdoor swimming pool was added in the same decade and the changing rooms have been restored to their original 1930s appearance. [1] The Garden Bedrooms were built in 1973 and adjoin the main hotel.

The hotel was flooded on 24 December 2013 when the River Mole burst its banks after heavy rainfall. Nine members of staff and 27 guests were evacuated by boat. [1] The hotel was reopened on 1 September 2014 following renovation. [6]

Notable Guests

After leaving London, John Keats took a room overlooking the gardens, and completed his epic poem Endymion there in 1817. [7] [4] (Keats is said to have been recommended the hotel by the essayist and literary critic William Hazlitt. [8] ) Robert Louis Stevenson was a guest in March 1878, [9] during which time he wrote two short stories: Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts and Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk . [10] Other prominent visitors included Queen Victoria, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth and Sheridan. It was here too that Lord Nelson spent secret hours with his love Emma Hamilton, before going to vanquish Napoleon's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. [4]

The American businessman, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, visited the hotel frequently in the 1890s, stopping to take lunch and to collect telegrams. [11] [12] He and a number of other millionaires, including James Hazen Hyde, practised the old English coaching techniques of the early 19th century for sport. Vanderbilt would frequently drive the coach, perfectly apparelled as a coachman or groom. His party would take a one-day, two-day, or longer trip along chosen routes through several counties, going to prearranged inns and hotels along the routes, [13] of which the Burford Bridge was one. [11] A memorial to Alfred still stands at Holmwood a few miles south of the hotel.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorking</span> Market town in Surrey, England

Dorking is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about 21 mi (34 km) south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Brook and along the northern face of an outcrop of Lower Greensand. The town is surrounded on three sides by the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is close to Box Hill and Leith Hill.

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

Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about 17 mi (27 km) south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leatherhead was a royal vill and is first mentioned in the will of Alfred the Great in 880 AD. The first bridge across the Mole may have been constructed in around 1200 and this may have coincided with the expansion of the town and the enlargement of the parish church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Bookham</span> Village in England

Great Bookham is a village in the Mole Valley district, in Surrey, England, one of six semi-urban spring line settlements between the towns of Leatherhead and Guildford. With the narrow strip parish of Little Bookham, it forms part of the Saxon settlement of Bocham. The Bookhams are surrounded by common land, and Bookham railway station in Church Road, Great Bookham, serves both settlements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Mole</span> Tributary of the River Thames in southern England

The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for 80 km to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district of Mole Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mole Valley</span> Non-metropolitan district in England

Mole Valley is a local government district in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Dorking, and the district's other town is Leatherhead. The largest villages are Ashtead, Fetcham and Great Bookham, in the northern third of the district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Box Hill, Surrey</span> Hill in Surrey, England

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

Mickleham is a village in south east England, between the towns of Dorking and Leatherhead in Surrey. The civil parish covers 7.31 square kilometres and includes the hamlet of Fredley. The larger ecclesiastical parish includes the majority of the neighbouring village of Westhumble, from which Mickleham is separated by the River Mole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stane Street (Chichester)</span> Roman road in southern England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutton and Mole Valley lines</span>

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

Westhumble is a village in south east England, approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) north of Dorking, Surrey. The village is not part of a civil parish, however the majority of the settlement is in the ecclesiastical Parish of Mickleham.

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Box Hill & Westhumble railway station</span> Railway station in Surrey, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherkley Court</span> Mansion and estate in Leatherhead, Surrey, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norbury Park</span> Park and mansion in Surrey, England

Norbury Park is an area of mixed wooded and agricultural land surrounding a privately owned its Georgian manor house near Leatherhead and Dorking, Surrey. On the west bank of the River Mole, it is close to the village of Mickleham.

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Pixham is a chapelry within the parish of Dorking, Surrey on the near side of the confluence of the River Mole and the Pipp Brook to its town, Dorking, which is centred 1 km (0.6 mi) southwest. The town as a whole, uniquely in Surrey, has three railway stations; Pixham adjoins or is the location of two of the three; and is near the junction of the A24 and A25 main roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portsmouth line</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Harmer, Janet (26 October 2014). "Mercure Box Hill Burford Bridge". The Caterer. 204 (4844): 42–44.
  2. Harvey, John (1962). "The Court Rolls of Leatherhead: The earliest surviving Court Roll of the Manor of Pachenesham" (PDF). Proceedings of the Leatherhead and District Local History Society. 2 (6): 170–173. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  3. Spong, June M (1999). Around Dorking and Box Hill. Stroud: Tempus. p. 98. ISBN   9780752411521.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1028876)". National Heritage List for England .
  5. Nathaniel Newnham-Davis's Gourmet's Guide to London (1914)
  6. "Burford Bridge Hotel reopens after Surrey floods". BBC News. London, UK. 1 September 2014. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  7. Blank, G. Kim (2018). Select Chronology and Keats’s Key Comments: 1817. University of Victoria. p. Dorking and Burford Bridge.
  8. Bate, W. Jackson (2009) [1963]. John Keats. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. p. 229.
  9. Gray, William (2004). Robert Louis Stevenson : a literary life. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 14. ISBN   9780333984000.
  10. Gelder, Kenneth (1984). The short stories of Robert Louis Stevenson (PDF) (PhD). University of Stirling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  11. 1 2 Shepperd, Ronald (1982). The Manor of Wistomble in the Parish of Mickleham. Westhumble Association. p. 70. ASIN B000X8PZMC.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. Shepperd, Ronald (1991). Micklam the story of a parish. Mickleham Publications. p. 156. ISBN   0-9518305-0-3.
  13. Times, Special Cable To The New York (11 June 1909). "MRS. ANTONIO RUIZ A SUICIDE IN LONDON; Was Mentioned in Connection with the Divorce Case of Alfred G. Vanderbilt. News of Death Suppressed; Had Been Rumored Here, but Not Confirmed Inquest Held Three Weeks Ago Divorced Last Summer". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
Burford Bridge Hotel, photographed in around 1917 Burford Bridge Hotel, Mickleham, postcard about 1917.jpg
Burford Bridge Hotel, photographed in around 1917