{"id":201,"date":"2015-12-29T20:26:15","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T20:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/?page_id=201"},"modified":"2017-09-16T11:43:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T11:43:02","slug":"royal-square","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/?page_id=201","title":{"rendered":"11. Royal Square"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Heritage Trail Location 11<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Photo 1 \u2013 The shopping mall, created by Richard Adolphus Came, on the corner of Station Road and Tattershall Road.\u00a0The shop on the corner is \u2018H Flower, purveyors of chocolate\u2019. Photo courtesy of Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum<\/p><\/div>\n

These gardens are where the Royal Hydropathic Hotel and Winter Gardens once stood.<\/p>\n

The hotel was designed by London architect, Richard Adolphus Came, who came here in the late 19th century.\u00a0He saw the possibilities for Woodhall Spa becoming a garden township and was architect to the Syndicate of gentlemen who took over the Spa in 1887.\u00a0On this site, he created a quadrangular shopping mall with a crystal covered promenade, around an open space with gardens (Photo 1).<\/p>\n

Later, Mr Came decided to build a hotel on the site.\u00a0The Spa was flourishing, with more visitors arriving each year and, apart from several boarding houses, there were only two hotels in which to accommodate them.<\/p>\n

On 8 May 1907, it was reported in the Horncastle News that the hotel had opened for visitors (Photo 2).\u00a0It was said to have been \u201cmodelled in a thoroughly up to date and captivating style\u201d.\u00a0There were 120 rooms and suites and the rateable value was rumoured to be \u00a3700, which, it was said, would ease the burden on other ratepayers although it was unlikely that a businessman such as Mr Came would accept this figure without an appeal.<\/p>\n

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Photo 2 \u2013 The Royal Hydro Hotel and Winter Gardens, not long after opening in 1907, looking down Station Road.\u00a0Note the sewer stench pipe to the left of the picture, with street lights attached. Photo courtesy of Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum<\/p><\/div>\n

A week after opening, the Royal Hydro was included in the newspaper\u2019s Visitors List for the Spa and 6 people were staying there.\u00a0A Select dance was reported to have been held, with \u201cmost of the best known residents of the Spa and their friends attending\u201d.\u00a0At the end of the month Mr Came applied for a licence to perform stage plays in the Winter Gardens, pointing out that fire precautions included 4 hydrants and that as well as the large main entrance into the room, there were 12 exits which could be used in an emergency<\/p>\n

At the beginning of September, two titled ladies, Lady Louisa Wells and the Dowager Duchess of Warwick, were among the 40 or so guests staying at the hotel, one of whom was the popular novelist of the late 19th century, Miss Marie Corelli.\u00a0The 1907 Woodhall Spa Season ended on 11 September.\u00a0It seems to have been highly successful for the Royal Hydropathic Hotel and Winter Gardens.<\/p>\n

Mr Came did not close his hotel for the winter and over the years it became greatly in demand for local functions.\u00a0There were dances and concerts to raise money for clubs and charities or the Alexandra Hospital.\u00a0End of year Prize Givings for Miss Lunn\u2019s High School for Girls, on the Broadway, were held there; Smoking Concerts were enjoyed by the Cricket Club and the Golf Club held its annual Fancy Dress Ball in the Winter Gardens each January.<\/p>\n

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Photo 3 \u2013 The Winter Gardens, taken from the stage. (Postcard from Webmaster's collection).<\/p><\/div>\n

At this time, there was a constant search for new springs of Spa water in the village and in February 1905, Mr Came located one off Tattershall Road, not far from the Roman Catholic Church.\u00a0A 7 feet diameter shaft was sunk and water was found at 492 feet.\u00a0Several interesting fossils were reported as having been found in the shaft, including an ammonite with a diameter of 2 feet.\u00a0This water, when analysed, was found to contain all the minerals of Spa water, with Epsom salts in addition.\u00a0As a result of this successful boring, Mr Came decided to build a Bath House next to his hotel.\u00a0Unlike the Spa Baths, his would remain open in the winter.<\/p>\n

By November 1906, the Baths were complete and an advertisement appeared in the paper of the 24th of the month, to the effect that they were open for villagers to use on 3 days each week.\u00a0Mrs Edith Bagshaw was Manageress at this time.\u00a0In 1907, we read that she owned a terrier, which sadly was killed, when chasing a train along the railway line behind the hotel.<\/p>\n

The hotel had regular entertainments and sometimes artists were brought from London.\u00a0At a local level, we read that on a Saturday afternoon in July 1907, Mr Allen, the band leader, gave a concert for patients at the Alexandra Hospital who greatly enjoyed the fine string band and also Mr Allen\u2019s spirited whistling solos.\u00a0In August 1907 there were 55 visitors staying in the Royal Hydro, compared with 40 at the Eagle and 95 at the larger and grander Victoria.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1 \u2013 Advert for the Royal Hydro Hotel and Winter Gardens taken from a souvenir booklet of 1911. (Photo courtesy of Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum).<\/p><\/div>\n

An advertisement in a souvenir booklet in 1911 shows that the hotel was well established (Fig 1).\u00a0The name of the Medical attendant is not given, but Dr Gwyn, who lived on Horncastle Road, was Medical Superintendent of the Royal Hydro Baths for some time.\u00a0He died in 1922.\u00a0A lady named Adeline Pacey, who was born in 1904, recorded that she remembered seeing Bath attendants in red dresses through an open door, when she was a girl.<\/p>\n

Mr Came had a flat in his hotel, situated at the end, next to what is now the Mall car park.\u00a0At the other end, on Tattershall Road, there was a ladies\u2019 hair dressing establishment, at one time occupied by Miss Hattie Rose, then Miss Phyllis Gresham and later Mrs Duffy.\u00a0Mr Leslie Chapman and his wife lived in a flat overlooking Station Road, when they were married in 1932.\u00a0Miss Rose, a niece of the bakers at Kirkstead, lived underneath.\u00a0They were great friends and she allowed them to go downstairs for baths.\u00a0Later, Mr Chapman remembers Mr Oyler, who was the manager of Abbey Lodge, lived in that flat.<\/p>\n

Famous visitors included Dame Nellie Melba, the Australian singer, after whom the dessert \u201cPeach Melba\u201d is reputedly named, when she was a guest of the Weigalls at Petwood House.<\/p>\n

The hotel was closed at the outbreak of war in 1914.\u00a0On 1 April 1915, the newspaper reported \u201cthe worst blizzard remembered\u201d when trees were uprooted, trains delayed and property damaged, in the Spa.\u00a0Two large chimneys were blown off the Royal Hydro Hotel.<\/p>\n

In 1918, every effort was made to return to the life before the war, but the Spa did not really recover and by 1920, the Royal Hydro was virtually empty.\u00a0However, it continued to be a popular venue for dances and every type of village function.\u00a0Mr Scott Targett became Manager of the hotel in 1936.\u00a0He was a Methodist and a teetotaller and so he stopped the sale of alcohol.\u00a0Previously, there had been a popular bar.\u00a0He introduced a Boxing Ring and invited champions from places as far away as Manchester.\u00a0Both local people and many from further afield, such as Boston and Cranwell came to watch.\u00a0He also ran a Table Tennis Club for young men and invited the National Champion to give an exhibition.<\/p>\n

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Photo 4 \u2013 The site of the Royal Hydro Hotel, not long after the bomb fell. (Photo courtesy of Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum).<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr Targett continued the tradition of engaging well known artists and Paul Robeson, the famous bass singer, is still remembered as coming to Woodhall Spa.\u00a0During the early years of the Second World War, Ivy Benson\u2019s Ladies\u2019 Band made a popular visit.<\/p>\n

The army requisitioned the hotel in 1940.\u00a0They concreted over the beautiful dance floor and gun carriers ploughed up the car park.\u00a0Mr Targett returned to London in 1941, leaving Mr Brookman in charge.<\/p>\n

Then came disaster. On the night of 17 August 1943, two German parachute retard bombs were dropped over Woodhall Spa, one of which hit the Royal Hydro Hotel.\u00a0Fortunately, none of the many soldiers stationed in the hotel was hurt, as they were away on manoeuvres that night, but the building was badly damaged.\u00a0Some of the brickwork survived, but the roof was missing, doors were blown out, window frames were useless and there was glass everywhere (Photo 4).<\/p>\n

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Photo 5 \u2013 The Royal Square Gardens, in late 2005 (viewed from the same position as Photo 1), with the Dambuster Memorial at the rear of the gardens. (Photo courtesy of Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum).<\/p><\/div>\n

The next day was spent clearing the site and sweeping up glass.\u00a0It was decided that it would be too expensive to rebuild the hotel and eventually it was dismantled and the debris carried away.\u00a0Mrs. Joyce Dowse remembered carting stone away on a tractor for a local builder at 1 shilling (5p) per load.<\/p>\n

A beer garden was suggested as a replacement, but Mr Targett was certainly not having that!\u00a0In the end it was decided to give the piece of land on which the hotel had stood to the Urban District Council as a memorial to the village.<\/p>\n

The Royal Hydropathic Hotel and Winter Gardens is still remembered fondly by older residents of the village.\u00a0Mr Peter Wilson recalls it well and comments, nostalgically, that his bungalow was built on what had been the pretty gardens of this lovely hotel.\u00a0The Royal Square Gardens (Photo 5), a public car park and the car park of The Mall Public House now occupy the site of the Royal Hydro Hotel and Winter Gardens.<\/p>\n

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Heritage Trail locations<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The trail can be started at any location, but we suggest you also visit the Cottage Museum to see the photographs taken by John Wield during the heyday of the Spa and items associated with this unique Victorian Spa town.<\/p>\n

The Trail is just one of several projects in the hands of the Woodhall Spa Parish Council sponsored Heritage Committee. Click here if you are interested in the committee or their projects.<\/p>\n

How well do you know Woodhall Spa?<\/p>\n

See if you can identify the location of these architectural features and items of street furniture! Or find the Letterbox (coming soon).<\/p>\n

Find out more about the Woodhall Spa Conservation Area<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Heritage Trail Location 11 \u00a0 \u00a0These gardens are where the Royal Hydropathic Hotel and Winter Gardens once stood.The hotel was designed by London architect, Richard Adolphus Came, who came here in the late 19th century.\u00a0He saw the possibilities for Woodhall Spa becoming a garden township and was architect to the Syndicate of gentlemen who took … Continue reading 11. Royal Square<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":40,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-201","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":668,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/201\/revisions\/668"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodhallspa.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}