Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel
The Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel is a former hotel and coaching house of mid-19th century origin in Victoria Square, close to Chiswell. It remained a public house until the 2010s and has been a Grade II listed building since May 1993.
History
The Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel was built to capitalise on the Weymouth and Portland Railway, which was constructed in 1862-64 and opened in 1865. With the railway's impending arrival, Captain Charles Augustus Manning of Portland Castle identified the lack of accommodation which would be available to rail passengers and made plans to develop the area between the Mere and Chiswell, where Portland Station was to be built. He purchased the former poorhouse of 1781 and some further land from the Crown Estate for the erection of a hotel as well as a row of lodging houses, Victoria Terrace, at his sole expense.
The new buildings forming Victoria Square, including the Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel, were constructed by Mr. Richard Reynolds of Weymouth. The hotel was completed in c. 1865 and construction of its stables, coach-house and billiard room commenced that year. In a report of the time, the Southern Times said of the new establishment: "The Royal Victoria Lodge, from its happy proximity to the station, and possessing the requisites of a well ordered establishment, must be of great value to residents and visitors." With its convenient position overlooking the new station, the hotel primarily acted as a coach inn for visitors arriving to Portland by rail. On 26 November 1865, the hotel hosted a public dinner to celebrate the railway line's completion and opening. Captain Manning died in 1869, and later in the 19th century, the hotel's ownership was taken over by Devenish & Co of Weymouth.
In 1878, the hotel's then-owner, Mr. J. Hodsdon, had an assembly room measuring 50 feet by 20 feet constructed at the back of the hotel. The Weymouth, Portland, and Dorchester Telegram reported at the time that "such a room will be a great advantage, enabling inhabitants of the Island to gather in a social way in larger numbers and with greater comfort than before." The paper described it in October 1878 as "exceedingly neat and chase in its style and fittings, and is a great addition to the gathering places of the Island".
Beyond its role as a hotel, the Royal Victoria Lodge also became a popular venue for meetings, inquests and inquiries. One inquest held in October 1903 attempted to deal with the number of trespassers using the railway line as a footpath. During that month, four sailors heading from Weymouth to Portland had been killed by a light engine at Wyke Regis. In April 1902, King Edward VII visited Portland and was provided with a carriage from the hotel by the then-landlord Mr. Cresswell.
During World War II, the hotel became a makeshift hospital. In 1944, Portland and Weymouth Harbours were selected as embarkation points for D-Day and officially commissioned as USNAAB Portland-Weymouth. With hundreds of thousands of troops embarking from the area, emergency hospital accommodation was required for the injured who soon returned from Normandy.
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the hotel, still known as the Royal Victoria Hotel, remained a popular public house and continued to offer accommodation, including to personnel of the Royal Navy. In a 1950s local guidebook, the hotel was advertised as: "The first house on the island. Fine Bars. H. & C. in all bedrooms. Large Meeting Room. Garage." Its link to the railway was largely lost with the closure of the line to passengers in 1952 (the line remained open to goods traffic until 1965).
Around 2004, the free house was renamed Masons and Mariners and continued to operate until 2009, when the pub was closed and left empty, awaiting a new owner. The current owner of the time, Neil Charlton, proposed plans to turn the pub into a bistro restaurant, as well as adding a couple of apartments, but the borough council expressed the wish for the building to be retained as a public house. Charlton then attempted to sell the property due to the economic recession. The pub remained in a derelict state for two years, until local resident Angie Gale secured a 15-year-lease. The pub reopened in March 2011, following refurbishment and the changing of the name back to Royal Victoria Lodge. Plans were made to provide en-suite accommodation and despite the hope that the pub's "prime position" would attract customers, including walkers and local families, the pub closed around 2013.
Transformation into a shop and apartments (2015-)
After its closure, the property was offered for rent in 2013 by Red House Estate Agents. It was listed as being a "substantial freehold development opportunity in a prominent location", though refurbishment was noted as being required. The pub was listed as having ten letting bedrooms and a self-contained flat for the tenant. By 2015, the pub had become listed for sale at £350,000. The plans at that time proposed a redevelopment scheme, creating a refurbished bar/restaurant, ground floor ancillary accommodation, and four self-contained luxury apartments on the first floor.
In August 2015, the new owners of the building, HDM (Leisure) Limited, submitted a planning application to change the building's use from a drinking establishment to retail shop with five apartments on the first floor. Although the plans were approved in January 2016, work did not commence until 2020, during which time the property had been on the market. In September 2020, work on repairing and repainting the exterior was completed. New planning applications were submitted in July 2020 to allow alterations to be made to the 2015 scheme, including the replacement of the roof with new slates, the refurbishment of all windows and the removal of a single-storey store on the north-west side. As no interested parties had come forward to occupy the retail space, permission was sought to make this more flexible by offering either A1 (retail) or B1 (office) use.
In 2023, Jurassic Aquatics relocated their shop from Straits to the ground floor of the building. The new aquatic shop, which also includes a café and dog grooming salon, opened in July 2023.
Design
During their 1993 survey, English Heritage noted that the building was "complex", with the L-shaped main block facing the square. The block has a long return to the south and a domestic block on its eastern side, enclosing a small courtyard. The slate roof is rendered. The front of the building has a square porch with arched openings. All windows of the hotel have plate-glass sashes. The original building was largely rendered, while Portland stone was used in the construction of the external walls. The majority of the ground floor internal walls are original and retain their accompanying fireplaces.
Eric Ricketts, in his 1979 book Old Buildings of Portland, described the hotel as: "a well ordered classical structure, restrained in treatment and complemented by the other hotel, now 'The Little Ship'." English Heritage, in their 1993 survey, noted that the hotel: "holds an important position on the corner of the Square, complementing the 'Little Ship' opposite."
In the 2014 Draft Appraisal of the Conservation Areas of Portland, by the Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, the hotel was described as having an "important corner position". It was noted that the building's use of facing brick was in supporting the architectural fashion of the time, with the hotel displaying "a grand design with extensive use of render". In the 2015 heritage statement by Alphega, it was noted that the building "provides a positive contribution (as a landmark) to the Underhill Conservation Area" and that the "original layout of the building has been established, and this does not appear to have changed much since its original construction".
The Olde Stables
Alongside the hotel is a detached property, which was once under the same ownership as the Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel. A long, narrow, two-storey building, it once formed the stables and coach house facilities. It is built of rubble stone with a slate roof and has seen various alterations over time, including the rendering of the west and south elevations. Once in use as a shop, the building remained abandoned and in a derelict state for many years in the late 20th century. The building is included within the hotel's Grade II listing due to their connection.
In September 2007, planning was sought by the owner, N. Jeffries to refurbish and make alterations to the building to create a two-bedroom flat on the first floor and two two-bedroom flats in the former stores on ground level. Despite approval of the plans in May 2008 and again in May 2012, no work was carried out and the building was sold for around £50,000 by informal tender by 5 April 2013. The new owner, David Milverton, received planning permission in March 2014 for a new proposal, which aimed at making more efficient use of space by forming three self-contained flats. Another proposal was submitted in September 2014 and approved in January 2015 to form a hot food takeaway in the former shop area.
Work began on restoring the building in 2015. The architectural design was undertaken by P. Dean Associates, the building contractor M. Green Building & Renovation Services, and the planning consultant Philip Watts. In recognition of the building's sensitive restoration, the Weymouth Civic Society awarded Milverton with a Certificate of Merit in 2015. The roof was restored using natural slate, the walls repaired to match the existing design, and timber softwood was used for the sliding sash windows. The society noted: "Care has been taken to retain the essential outward appearance without unsuitable additions, using appropriate materials for this vernacular building, while converting it to its new use, thus contributing to the gradual improvement of this whole area." Following the restoration, the retail space was made available as a lease and was acquired by a fish and chip takeaway, Chesil Chippie, in 2016.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Ancestry.com - Genealogy - Portland Year Book 1905 - Chronology of the Island of Portland 700 - 1905 AD - Paul Benyon - website page
2) Discover Dorset: Portland - Stuart Morris - Dovecote Press - 1998 - ISBN: 978-1874336495 - page 13 - book
3) Disused Stations Site Record - Portland 1st Site - Nick Catford - website page
4) Dorset Echo - numerous articles from the online archive from 2010 to 2016 - website page
5) Dorset for You - Appraisal of the Conservation Areas of Portland - PDF document
6) Dorset for You - W&PBC - Planning Application Details - WP/14/00699/COU (30 Jan 2015) - Heritage Statement - PDF document
7) Dorset for You - W&PBC - Planning Application Details - WP/15/00638/LBC (22 Jan 2016) - Heritage Statement and Impact Assessment - PDF document
8) Dorset for You - W&PBC - various planning applications in online archive - website page
9) Historic England - The National Heritage List for England - Royal Victoria Hotel - website page
10) Isle of Portland Official Guide - Portland Urban District Council - Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd, Chelternham and London - circa 1955 - page 1 - book
11) Isle of Portland Railways - Volume Two - The Weymouth & Portland Railway/The Easton & Church Hope Railway - B. L. Jackson - The Oakwood Press - 2000 - ISBN: 978-0853615514 - pages 27, 63 - book
12) Old Buildings of Portland - Eric Ricketts - Weymouth Bookshop - 1979 - ISBN: 978-0905900049 - page 4 - book
13) Portland Picture Archive - Public Houses - Geoff Kirby - website page
14) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles - website page
15) Weymouth and Portland at War - Maureen Attwooll, Denise Harrison - Dovecote Press - 1993 - ISBN: 978-1874336167 - page 86 - book
16) Weymouth and Portland Borough Council - Draft Appraisal of the Conservation Areas of Portland - Appendix B - PDF document
17) Weymouth Civic Society - Planning Annual Awards - Awards 2015 - website page
History
The Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel was built to capitalise on the Weymouth and Portland Railway, which was constructed in 1862-64 and opened in 1865. With the railway's impending arrival, Captain Charles Augustus Manning of Portland Castle identified the lack of accommodation which would be available to rail passengers and made plans to develop the area between the Mere and Chiswell, where Portland Station was to be built. He purchased the former poorhouse of 1781 and some further land from the Crown Estate for the erection of a hotel as well as a row of lodging houses, Victoria Terrace, at his sole expense.
The new buildings forming Victoria Square, including the Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel, were constructed by Mr. Richard Reynolds of Weymouth. The hotel was completed in c. 1865 and construction of its stables, coach-house and billiard room commenced that year. In a report of the time, the Southern Times said of the new establishment: "The Royal Victoria Lodge, from its happy proximity to the station, and possessing the requisites of a well ordered establishment, must be of great value to residents and visitors." With its convenient position overlooking the new station, the hotel primarily acted as a coach inn for visitors arriving to Portland by rail. On 26 November 1865, the hotel hosted a public dinner to celebrate the railway line's completion and opening. Captain Manning died in 1869, and later in the 19th century, the hotel's ownership was taken over by Devenish & Co of Weymouth.
In 1878, the hotel's then-owner, Mr. J. Hodsdon, had an assembly room measuring 50 feet by 20 feet constructed at the back of the hotel. The Weymouth, Portland, and Dorchester Telegram reported at the time that "such a room will be a great advantage, enabling inhabitants of the Island to gather in a social way in larger numbers and with greater comfort than before." The paper described it in October 1878 as "exceedingly neat and chase in its style and fittings, and is a great addition to the gathering places of the Island".
Beyond its role as a hotel, the Royal Victoria Lodge also became a popular venue for meetings, inquests and inquiries. One inquest held in October 1903 attempted to deal with the number of trespassers using the railway line as a footpath. During that month, four sailors heading from Weymouth to Portland had been killed by a light engine at Wyke Regis. In April 1902, King Edward VII visited Portland and was provided with a carriage from the hotel by the then-landlord Mr. Cresswell.
During World War II, the hotel became a makeshift hospital. In 1944, Portland and Weymouth Harbours were selected as embarkation points for D-Day and officially commissioned as USNAAB Portland-Weymouth. With hundreds of thousands of troops embarking from the area, emergency hospital accommodation was required for the injured who soon returned from Normandy.
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the hotel, still known as the Royal Victoria Hotel, remained a popular public house and continued to offer accommodation, including to personnel of the Royal Navy. In a 1950s local guidebook, the hotel was advertised as: "The first house on the island. Fine Bars. H. & C. in all bedrooms. Large Meeting Room. Garage." Its link to the railway was largely lost with the closure of the line to passengers in 1952 (the line remained open to goods traffic until 1965).
Around 2004, the free house was renamed Masons and Mariners and continued to operate until 2009, when the pub was closed and left empty, awaiting a new owner. The current owner of the time, Neil Charlton, proposed plans to turn the pub into a bistro restaurant, as well as adding a couple of apartments, but the borough council expressed the wish for the building to be retained as a public house. Charlton then attempted to sell the property due to the economic recession. The pub remained in a derelict state for two years, until local resident Angie Gale secured a 15-year-lease. The pub reopened in March 2011, following refurbishment and the changing of the name back to Royal Victoria Lodge. Plans were made to provide en-suite accommodation and despite the hope that the pub's "prime position" would attract customers, including walkers and local families, the pub closed around 2013.
Transformation into a shop and apartments (2015-)
After its closure, the property was offered for rent in 2013 by Red House Estate Agents. It was listed as being a "substantial freehold development opportunity in a prominent location", though refurbishment was noted as being required. The pub was listed as having ten letting bedrooms and a self-contained flat for the tenant. By 2015, the pub had become listed for sale at £350,000. The plans at that time proposed a redevelopment scheme, creating a refurbished bar/restaurant, ground floor ancillary accommodation, and four self-contained luxury apartments on the first floor.
In August 2015, the new owners of the building, HDM (Leisure) Limited, submitted a planning application to change the building's use from a drinking establishment to retail shop with five apartments on the first floor. Although the plans were approved in January 2016, work did not commence until 2020, during which time the property had been on the market. In September 2020, work on repairing and repainting the exterior was completed. New planning applications were submitted in July 2020 to allow alterations to be made to the 2015 scheme, including the replacement of the roof with new slates, the refurbishment of all windows and the removal of a single-storey store on the north-west side. As no interested parties had come forward to occupy the retail space, permission was sought to make this more flexible by offering either A1 (retail) or B1 (office) use.
In 2023, Jurassic Aquatics relocated their shop from Straits to the ground floor of the building. The new aquatic shop, which also includes a café and dog grooming salon, opened in July 2023.
Design
During their 1993 survey, English Heritage noted that the building was "complex", with the L-shaped main block facing the square. The block has a long return to the south and a domestic block on its eastern side, enclosing a small courtyard. The slate roof is rendered. The front of the building has a square porch with arched openings. All windows of the hotel have plate-glass sashes. The original building was largely rendered, while Portland stone was used in the construction of the external walls. The majority of the ground floor internal walls are original and retain their accompanying fireplaces.
Eric Ricketts, in his 1979 book Old Buildings of Portland, described the hotel as: "a well ordered classical structure, restrained in treatment and complemented by the other hotel, now 'The Little Ship'." English Heritage, in their 1993 survey, noted that the hotel: "holds an important position on the corner of the Square, complementing the 'Little Ship' opposite."
In the 2014 Draft Appraisal of the Conservation Areas of Portland, by the Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, the hotel was described as having an "important corner position". It was noted that the building's use of facing brick was in supporting the architectural fashion of the time, with the hotel displaying "a grand design with extensive use of render". In the 2015 heritage statement by Alphega, it was noted that the building "provides a positive contribution (as a landmark) to the Underhill Conservation Area" and that the "original layout of the building has been established, and this does not appear to have changed much since its original construction".
The Olde Stables
Alongside the hotel is a detached property, which was once under the same ownership as the Royal Victoria Lodge Hotel. A long, narrow, two-storey building, it once formed the stables and coach house facilities. It is built of rubble stone with a slate roof and has seen various alterations over time, including the rendering of the west and south elevations. Once in use as a shop, the building remained abandoned and in a derelict state for many years in the late 20th century. The building is included within the hotel's Grade II listing due to their connection.
In September 2007, planning was sought by the owner, N. Jeffries to refurbish and make alterations to the building to create a two-bedroom flat on the first floor and two two-bedroom flats in the former stores on ground level. Despite approval of the plans in May 2008 and again in May 2012, no work was carried out and the building was sold for around £50,000 by informal tender by 5 April 2013. The new owner, David Milverton, received planning permission in March 2014 for a new proposal, which aimed at making more efficient use of space by forming three self-contained flats. Another proposal was submitted in September 2014 and approved in January 2015 to form a hot food takeaway in the former shop area.
Work began on restoring the building in 2015. The architectural design was undertaken by P. Dean Associates, the building contractor M. Green Building & Renovation Services, and the planning consultant Philip Watts. In recognition of the building's sensitive restoration, the Weymouth Civic Society awarded Milverton with a Certificate of Merit in 2015. The roof was restored using natural slate, the walls repaired to match the existing design, and timber softwood was used for the sliding sash windows. The society noted: "Care has been taken to retain the essential outward appearance without unsuitable additions, using appropriate materials for this vernacular building, while converting it to its new use, thus contributing to the gradual improvement of this whole area." Following the restoration, the retail space was made available as a lease and was acquired by a fish and chip takeaway, Chesil Chippie, in 2016.
References
The following is an A-Z list of references for this page.
1) Ancestry.com - Genealogy - Portland Year Book 1905 - Chronology of the Island of Portland 700 - 1905 AD - Paul Benyon - website page
2) Discover Dorset: Portland - Stuart Morris - Dovecote Press - 1998 - ISBN: 978-1874336495 - page 13 - book
3) Disused Stations Site Record - Portland 1st Site - Nick Catford - website page
4) Dorset Echo - numerous articles from the online archive from 2010 to 2016 - website page
5) Dorset for You - Appraisal of the Conservation Areas of Portland - PDF document
6) Dorset for You - W&PBC - Planning Application Details - WP/14/00699/COU (30 Jan 2015) - Heritage Statement - PDF document
7) Dorset for You - W&PBC - Planning Application Details - WP/15/00638/LBC (22 Jan 2016) - Heritage Statement and Impact Assessment - PDF document
8) Dorset for You - W&PBC - various planning applications in online archive - website page
9) Historic England - The National Heritage List for England - Royal Victoria Hotel - website page
10) Isle of Portland Official Guide - Portland Urban District Council - Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd, Chelternham and London - circa 1955 - page 1 - book
11) Isle of Portland Railways - Volume Two - The Weymouth & Portland Railway/The Easton & Church Hope Railway - B. L. Jackson - The Oakwood Press - 2000 - ISBN: 978-0853615514 - pages 27, 63 - book
12) Old Buildings of Portland - Eric Ricketts - Weymouth Bookshop - 1979 - ISBN: 978-0905900049 - page 4 - book
13) Portland Picture Archive - Public Houses - Geoff Kirby - website page
14) The British Newspaper Archive - various contemporary newspaper articles - website page
15) Weymouth and Portland at War - Maureen Attwooll, Denise Harrison - Dovecote Press - 1993 - ISBN: 978-1874336167 - page 86 - book
16) Weymouth and Portland Borough Council - Draft Appraisal of the Conservation Areas of Portland - Appendix B - PDF document
17) Weymouth Civic Society - Planning Annual Awards - Awards 2015 - website page
Gallery
These images can be enlarged by clicking on them. Some images have information attached to them, and to view this you can either enlarge the image or hover the mouse over each thumbnail.
Exterior
Interior
All of these interior photographs have been kindly supplied by Westcoast and Jo Funnell of Alphega for use on this website, and the copyright is attached to them.
The first group of photographs show the ground floor (bar area and other backrooms), while the second group shows the first floor (previously used as accommodation). The photographs with a date stamp, from July 2014, are shown first in each group. The rest were taken during April 2015, showing some of the work undertaken during the time between.
The first group of photographs show the ground floor (bar area and other backrooms), while the second group shows the first floor (previously used as accommodation). The photographs with a date stamp, from July 2014, are shown first in each group. The rest were taken during April 2015, showing some of the work undertaken during the time between.
