GWR postcards
GWR Hotels and their postcards
The Great Western Railway either owned or operated a total of six large hotels, although not all at the same timeClick or tap to see an advert for the hotels from 1899. Only some of them featured on official GWR postcards, but it is interesting to include a note on each hotel here in the sequence in which they fell under GWR control. We have in our collection a carriage print dating from around the mid 1930s which advertises the four hotels under GWR management
Click or tap link for a larger image at that time.
From 1st January 1948 the hotel and catering interests of all railway companies came under the control of British Transport Commission's Railway Executive.
Great Western Royal Hotel, Paddington
This postcard was issued from 1904 as part of a series of 25 which was printed for the Great Western Railway by Raphael Tuck and Sons and illustrated different items of GWR interest.
Publicised as London’s largest and most sumptuous hotel, the Great Western Royal HotelClick or tap to see a photograph of the hotel from 1896/7 was opened by Prince Albert and the King of Portugal on 9th June 1854 losing out by 23 days to the Great Northern in the race to be London’s first railway hotel. It had taken just 14 months to build by Messrs Holland Hannen & Cubitts and comprised 5 storeys with 7 storey corner towers with 115 bedrooms and 15 sitting rooms above the public rooms on the ground floor. It was designed by architect Philip Charles Hardwick with influences from his father Philip (who designed the famous Euston Arch) and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and featured sculptures by John Thomas, who also worked on Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. Whilst the hotel forms the facade of Paddington Station, it was not owned by the Great Western Railway. Money had been raised to build the hotel by a section of the Great Western board but they formed a separate company to administer its affairs. Brunel was a Director of the hotel company from 1855 until his death in 1859 and the hotel did not become part of the GWR until 1896 when they also established it as the headquarters of their catering department. In the mid 1930s the hotel was extended and remodelled under the direction of their architect Percy Emerson Culverhouse. The building was awarded Grade II listed status in February 1974 and was sold to the private sector in 1983. In 2001 the hotel saw a major refurbishment and was reopened in 2002 as the Hilton London Paddington.
The South Wales Hotel, Neyland
For various reasons the South Wales Railway, which was engineered by I.K.Brunel and soon to be owned and operated by the GWR, chose to develop the small hamlet of Neyland (for a time re-named 'New Milford') as the ocean terminus of the railway with the station opening in 1856. The deep waters of Milford Haven were ideal and routes were developed first to Waterford and Cork in Ireland, and then to Portugal and Brazil. The impressive South Wales HotelClick or tap to see a photograph of the hotel from 1896/7 opened in 1858 and was owned an operated by the GWR until it was disposed of after the new port at Fishguard came into use and the sea routes were transferred there in 1906. No cards featuring this hotel are known to have been published by the GWR.
Great Western Hotel, Snow Hill
The Great Western Hotel circa 1900
Dainty Series published by E.T.W. Dennis & Sons Ltd., London & Scarborough
The station at Snow Hill, although not being so named until 1858, first opened in October 1852 as the terminus of the mixed-gauge line from Oxford to Birmingham. It became a through station when the line north of the station, towards Wolverhampton and Dudley, opened in late 1854. In the early 1860s the imposing Great Western Hotel, designed by the Birmingham architect Julius Chatwin, was constructed at the southern end of the station, above the Snow Hill Tunnel entrance and spanning the railway at right angles. Although there was no direct connection to the station from the hotel there was a walkway which provided guests covered access down to the platforms. The hotel was never operated by the GWR but was leased out, so no cards featuring this hotel were published by the GWR. It would seem not to have been a commercial success, and guests regularly complained of being kept awake by trains running underneath.
In November 1902 the GWR authorised the reconstruction of Snow Hill, and in 1906 the major rebuild began. The former Great Western Hotel was converted into office accommodation for the GWR. The ground floor was remodelled to provide a new station entrance from Colmore Row, with the original refreshment room and restaurant remaining open to the public until 1940 when bomb damage forced their closure. The former Great Western Hotel building and the station booking hall were eventually demolished in 1969 with staff transferring to the new Rail House on Broad Street in the centre of Birmingham.
It had been planned to build a new hotel adjacent to Snow Hill Station in Birmingham, but the project never went ahead as World War II intervened. The April 1939 edition of the Great Western Railway Magazine carried an article describing the proposed hotelClick or tap to reveal our hidden page about this ambitious project. The plans were revived immediately after the war, but the whole area had become the focus for potential redevelopment by the city and the scheme was once more shelved.
Tregenna Castle Hotel, St.Ives
Tregenna Castle was built in 1744 as a 12 bedroom private home for a wealthy Cornishman, Samuel Stephens, who commissioned the build of the house from local granite and named his property after the hill upon which it stands. The Great Western Railway, who had opened its St Ives branch line on 1 June 1877, leased the property in 1878 and soon transformed it into a hotel and destination in its own right. Tregenna Castle HotelClick or tap to see photographs of the hotel from 1880 and 1896/7 had much to offer with plans for a golf course being discussed as early as 1888. Opened in 1929, the first golf course at Tregenna was a nine-hole course, and was swiftly followed by a croquet lawn, three tennis courts, a badminton court, and a squash court. Sir Daniel Gooch, the chairman of the GWR, stayed at the hotel a few weeks after it had been opened to the public and the GWR purchased the hotel outright in 1895 opening an extension for 56 guestsClick or tap to see an aerial photograph of the hotel and grounds taken in 1928 on 1st August 1929. A grade II* building since January 1981, it operates as the luxury Bovey Castle Hotel and resort.
Early card, circa 1912
1912 card back with two shields
Franked 'ST. IVES MR 29 1913'
Tennis courts 1929/30 (first phone number)
Tennis courts plain back
Written on August 2nd 1930
Tennis courts 1930/31 (later phone numbers)
Tennis courts 1930/31 (later phone numbers)
Franked 'ST. IVES 8 JU 31'
Distant vignetted view in winter circa 1930
Winter view plain back
Hotel front from driveway mid 1930s with small roundel
Mid 1930s small roundel
Franked 'ST. IVES 10 JLY 40'
Hotel front from driveway mid 1930s with large roundel
Mid 1930s large roundel
Associated with the hotel, and also under GWR ownership, was Home Farm whose herd of Jersey cows supplied the hotel with milk and cream. Plans were in hand for new cow-sheds, piggeries and other improvements in 1947 but ownership of the farm, together with the hotel, was passed to the British Transport Commission in January 1948.
The Fishguard Bay Hotel
Having been enlarged in about 1887-8 by the addition of two new wings to provide a 16-bedroom, 4-sitting-room private residence, the building and grounds were sold by the then owner, a Mr Morison, to the Fishguard & Rosslare Railways & Harbour Co in 1896 to become the Hotel WyncliffeClick or tap to see a photograph of the hotel from 1896/7. It was bought by the Great Western Railway in 1898, and renamed the Fishguard Bay Hotel. It would not appear that the hotel was initially a huge success, but perhaps the GWR had an eye on future developments as from 1906 they sought to promote Fishguard as their ocean terminal servicing the mail route to Ireland and to open Fishguard for trans-Atlantic liners. After a large extension was opened in 1910 the hotel boasted 40 bedrooms, 2 apartment suites, a dining-hall, a smoking-room, 2 lounges and a billiard room. It remained a railway hotel until 1951 after which it closed and remained empty for several years before being bought and re-opened by local entrepreneur Anne Burscough in 1959. For the next 58 years ownership remained within the same family with her son, Gilbert taking over upon her death in 1966 and then her son-in-law, George Schell, from 1968. The hotel was refurbished and extended to 60 bedrooms in 1974 and he ran it until his death at the age of 88 in January 2014. Given grade II listed status on 24th November 1978, as being '...the only example in the region of a major railway hotel, of historical interest as built for the transatlantic trade...', it was sold on by his sons in 2017 and at the time of writing was still operating as an hotel.
Vignette card from 1906/7
1906/7 back with two shields and single scroll
1920s edition showing the large extension
1920s edition back with two shields device
Mid 1930s edition with small roundel
Mid 1930s back with small roundel
Later 1930s edition with small roundel
Later 1930s back with small roundel
Franked 'GOODWICK 10 JA 39'
Starting in 1924 the Great Western railway sponsored the new 'Beautiful Britain' series of playing cards manufactured by John Waddngton Ltd. of Leek and London. Every card in each pack carried the same illustration on the back, being one or two monochrome photographs printed either in green or sepia, and the boxes bore the message For Speed Comfort and Courtesy - Go Great Western. There were a number of different illustrations used, all depicting locations served by the GWR, one being the hotel at Fishguard
G.W.R. playing card back showing the Fishguard Bay Hotel and Pembroke Castle. Unlike the postcards, jigsaws and other publications sold by the GWR, these playing cards did not form part of its 'official' merchandise and were always sold by Waddington's, being one of their own products. The Great Western Railway withdrew their sponsorship in 1925 with the London and North Eastern Railway taking over until 1929. Our collection holds many examples of these and other designs of Waddington's 'Beautiful Britain' playing cards from 1924 through to the early 1960s.
The Manor House Hotel, North Bovey
In 1890, William Henry Smith (Conservative politician and stationery magnate, later to become Viscount Hambleden) purchased 5,000 acres of land which included the ancient manors of Moretonhampstead and North Bovey, almost thirty farms, extensive woodland and fishing rights on the rivers Bovey and Teign from the Earl of Devon. It was Viscount Hambleden’s son, Frederick, who built the house. During the First World War, the house became a convalescent home for officers. Lord Hambleden died in June 1928 and his estate, consisting largely of his properties and the entire ordinary shareholding of WH Smith, fell liable for substantial death duty. North Bovey Manor HouseClick or tap to see an aerial photograph of the hotel and gardens taken in 1934 and its estate were put on the market and were eventually auctioned to the Great Western Railway for conversion into an hotel. The hotel opened in 1929 and another 17 bedrooms, a cocktail bar, dining room and squash and badminton courts had been added by 1936. It was requisitioned for use as a military hospital again when war broke out in 1939 after which it was returned to the Great Western Railway. Of the few new books which the GWR managed to publish between the end of the war and nationalisation were two specifically aimed at visitors to the hotel. The first, Walks around Manor House Hotel
was written by Hugh E.Page and the cover artwork is signed by the artist Reginald Montague LanderReginald Lander was a prolific commercial artist and between 1930-39 he was the chief designer and manager of Ralph & Mott a commercial art studio in London. He produced a huge number of posters for GWR, LNER, British Railways and the Post Office, right up to the late 1970s.. The other is Motoring from Manor House Hotel
written by Kent Karslake, which we believe to be the last ever publication by the GWR.
The hotel and estate has changed owners several times since, including Peter de Savary who renamed it Bovey Castle. Following further refurbishment and development, Bovey Castle and its estate became part of the Eden Hotel Collection in June 2014 and remains a destination resort hotel.
Card from around 1920
1920s back with two shields device
Mid 1930s edition with small roundel
Mid 1930s back with small roundel
Later 1930s edition with large roundel
Later 1930s back with large roundel
Manor House Hotel luggage label, example 1
Author's collection
Manor House Hotel luggage label, example 2
Author's collection
The Grand Pump Room Hotel, Bath
The hotel estate of the GWR was small in comparison with that of the LMS and the LNER, and it was a situation they were increasingly keen to remedy. During 1938 or early 1939, as part of its expansion plans, the GWR bought a parcel of land in Looe with the intention of building a holiday hotel 'in the true Great Western tradition', and in 1938 the GWR leased the large Grand Pump Room Hotel in Bath. This imposing hotel was first opened in 1869, being designed by the architects Wilcox & Wilson. The hotel was widely promoted in newspaper as having its own private stairway and lift to the 'world famous Corporation Baths'. During WW2 the building was used by Admiralty staff who had been evacuated to Bath. When the building was handed back, the GWR started to plan a major refurbishment which would have included the demolition of the oldest part in Westgate Street for it to be replaced by a large new block. Nothing was started before the lease passed to the British Transport Commission in 1948 when the railways were nationalised. They decided that the cost to reopen the hotel was uneconomic and the lease was surrended back to the Corporation who, depite great efforts, could not find anyone willing to take it on. The whole building was demolished in 1959 and replaced by a block of flats with shops fronting Stall Street and Westgate Street, with the entrance to the New Royal Baths being relocated to Bath Street. No postcards are known to have been published by the GWR during the very short time the hotel was leased by them, but we have found these below which are roughly contemporary.
Grand Pump Room Hotel, Bath, circa 1925
Unknown publisher
Bath, Grand Pump Room Hotel, franked 'BATH 1 SEP 1936'
Unknown publisher
Bold plans for the future
Having noted that during 1938/9 the GWR had made the first moves to expand its hotel estate, it is interesting to briefly mention that in 1947 George Allen & Unwin Limited published a book on behalf of the GWR which was entitled 'Next Station - a railway plans for the future'. It outlined bold plans to redevelop all areas of interest to the company, not least of which was the hotel estate. This would have involved the building and operation of new holiday camps with Thomas Cook & Son Ltd. (similar to the Thomas Cook/LMS camp in PrestatynClick or tap to reveal our hidden page about the Thomas Cook/LMS holiday camp in Prestatyn), and the building of a number of 'business hotels' in major cities including Swindon, Swansea
Great Western Hotel, Swansea - Preliminary design
taken from Next Station published in 1947 for the GWR by George Allen & Unwin Limited.
Author's collection, Cardiff, and Snow Hill
Proposed Great Western Hotel, Snow Hill, Birmingham
Great Western Railway Magazine, April 1939, in Birmingham, together with major refurbishments to existing properties. As with the hotel at Bath, nothing was to come of these ambitious plans.
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Registration Office cards
We have seen examples of cards featuring pencil sketches by Claude H.Buckle of Fishguard Bay Hotel, Manor House Hotel and Tregenna Castle Hotel, amongst other subjects. These possibly date from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. Another small series of cards was produced from around 1936 illustrated by pencil sketches of Fishguard Bay Hotel, Manor House Hotel and Tregenna Castle Hotel, each by the artist Charles Mayo.
It is possible that the cards depicting GWR hotels may have been made available to hotel guests, however, we have only seen examples which were produced for use by the GWR Registration Office. These cards are dealt with more fully in the page covering Correspondence Cards.
