Royal Hotel and War Memorial at Weymouth Dorset

Royal Hotel is a 19th-century hotel at Weymouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, England. It is located on the town's seafront, overlooking

Weymouth Beach __NOTOC__ Weymouth Beach is a gently curving arc of sand in Weymouth Bay, beside the town of Weymouth in Dorset, England. Immediately adjacent to the beach is The Esplanade. The beach is a popular destination for sea bathing, and was frequ ...

and

Weymouth Bay Weymouth Bay is a sheltered bay on the south coast of England, in Dorset. It is protected from erosion by Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland, and includes several beaches, notably Weymouth Beach, a gently curving arc of golden sand which str ...

. The building has been a Grade II listed building since 1974. Replacing an earlier hotel of the same name, the Royal Hotel opened in 1899. Historic England describe it as a "forceful building, in the manner of Richard Norman Shaw's more monumental work in this style and demonstrating a characteristic late Victorian approach to urban development".

History

Weymouth developed as a popular seaside resort at the end of the 18th-century, which was greatly boosted by

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

's numerous visits to the town. Sea bathing was established at Weymouth by the 1770s, prior to the King's first visit in 1789. During this period, complaints were made about the town's lack of "desirable" accommodation. In response, Stacie's Hotel was built by builder Andrew Sproule for its proprietor Mr. Stacie and opened in 1773. Stacie's Hotel was one of the first purpose-built establishments to capitalise on Weymouth's early development as a resort. It was built with its own assembly room, which proved popular enough to replace the town's original at Trinity Street. It was soon renamed the Royal Hotel, after being patronised by King George III. In 1805, a grand dinner was held at the hotel to celebrate the birthday of Princess Amelia. Although the royal family dined at their nearby holiday home Gloucester Lodge, they received guests at the hotel and later rejoined them at the evening ball. The original hotel was demolished in 1891, with plans for a replacement being drawn up by Charles Orlando Law. Construction began with the laying of the foundation stone in 1897 by the mayor of Weymouth, Charles Jesty. Built of red brick, with

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

dressings, the hotel was completed in 1899 and opened on 16 May that year. Along with a carriage house, a ballroom known as Queen's Ballroom was built to the rear of the building. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the hotel was requisitioned for use as the local headquarters of the United States military. Both Weymouth and Portland were major embarkation points for Allied troops involved in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. Requisitioned in 1943, the hotel reopened on 26 November 1945. The hotel, which formerly operated as part of the Bay Hotels chain, was taken over by Bespoke Hotels in 2020. Leisureplex Hotel Group then bought the Royal Hotel on 20 December 2023.

References

{{coord, 50.61364, N, 2.45344, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Weymouth, Dorset Grade II listed buildings in Dorset Hotels in Dorset Grade II listed hotels