The Lygon Arms ( ) is a Grade II* listed hotel in Broadway, Worcestershire, originally a

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

. The current building dates from the seventeenth century.

History

The Lygon Arms was built in the 14th century and was a key connection between Wales, Worcester and London during the Elizabethan period. The earliest written record of the inn dates to 1377 and refers to the building as "The White Hart". However, the listing dates the current structure to the early seventeenth century. The coaching inn played a role in the English Civil War in 1649, serving both sides. Oliver Cromwell stayed there before the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Charles I also used it as a place to meet his supporters during the unrest. The inn continued to be used as a staging post into the eighteenth century for mail coaches travelling between London and Wales. By the 1900s, the Lygon Arms was owned by Sydney Bolton Russell, whose son, Gordon Russell, restored antique furniture for the hotel in a loft above the coach house. Gordon Russell would become one of England’s leading designers in the 1930s. King Edward VII visited the hotel between 1905 and 1910, as did his grandson, the future

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

. In 1963 Richard Burton and

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

stayed at the hotel during the height of the scandal surrounding their affair. The hotel has also been visited by Prince Philip, Evelyn Waugh, and

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

Development

Sydney Bolton Russell (1866–1938) bought the Lygon Arms in 1903 from the Midlands brewer Samuel Allsopp & Sons, after first visiting the property in the early 1900s while he worked as a manager for the company. Russell renovated the property in 1910 in a Tudor and Stuart period style, with the help of the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

architect Charles Bateman (1863–1947). Russell recounted the experience of acquiring the Lygon Arms in his book ''The Story of an Old English Hostelry'', published in 1914. In 1915, Russell moved out of the newly refurbished hotel to the village of Snowshill with the aim of separating his business and personal life. At the start of 2016 the new owners of the Lygon Arms, Ian Livingstone and

Richard Livingstone Sir Richard Winn Livingstone (23 January 1880 – 26 December 1960) was a British classical scholar, educationist, and academic administrator. He promoted the classical liberal arts. Life Livingstone was born on 23 January 1880 in Liverpool. H ...

, announced that the property would be going under extensive redevelopment.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Coaching inns Grade II* listed buildings in Worcestershire Grade II* listed hotels Grade II* listed pubs in England Hotels in Worcestershire