Listed Building record MWX331 - The Golden Lion Hotel, Weymouth

An inn built in the 17th century, rebuilt in the late 18th century. The building has walls of brick and a tile or slate roof. Remnants of early ceiling beams and joists survive in the interior.

The Golden Lion Hotel, St. Edmund Street. Two storeys, with tiled roof, built in the late 18th century. Figure of a lion above the doorway. Much altered internally. <1>

Brief mention of this building as having a stucco frontage. <2>

Indexed as both St. Edmund Street, No. 19, Golden Lion Hotel and St. Mary Street, Golden Lion Hotel. Grade II.

Late 18th century rebuild of 17th century inn. Painted Flemish bond brickwork, tile or slate roof. A shallow front range attached to a substantial return wing in St. Mary Street.

Exterior: Three storeys and attic. The main front has three windows, all with glazing-bar sashes; at second floor a 12-pane between tripartite 8:12:8 panes, all to flush boxes, above two bold canted oriels with 16:16:16 panes and to dentil cornices, on plain deep skirts. Between these is a broad elliptical blind oculus. Ground floor has a small plain sash oriel on wood brackets, and a tripartite sash without bars.

The central wide 6-panel door is in panelled reveals, moulded architrave and half-pilaster case with a dentilled entablature; above this is a square pedestal with moulded edge carrying a gilded lion. Left end has a ridge stack. A small plinth and plain bands at first and second floors, with plain eaves band, all of these returned to right, which is a hipped end with central eaves stack, and 12-pane sash at ground and second floors with a blind light at first floor.

Large return range in St. Mary Street has a wide-span slate mansard roof with three flat-roofed dormers, two of these with double sash, above four 12-pane sashes in reveals at first and second floors. Ground floor has a tripartite display window with fascia and cornice, a large tripartite sash with some glazing bars, an arched doorway with part-glazed door, and a pair of doors on two deep steps. The exposed right gable has two openings to a steel escape stair. No external stacks remain to this range.

Interior: has practically nothing of the original detail visible, and has been substantially subdivided for later hotel use. Ground floor facing St. Edmund Street has some remnants of early ceiling beams and joists, with the ceiling at a level well below the heads of the 18th century windows. It is not clear to what extent this is a later modification, but it probably reflects the scale of the earlier building on the site. <3>

Some panels from the wreck of the VERA [SY 67 NW 71] were said at one time to have been in the Golden Lion Hotel. <5>

Some history and anecdotes of the building on the public house website, with old photographs of the exterior. <6>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 350 (Monograph). SDO150.

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 455 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> Department of the Environment, 14 June 1974, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Borough of Weymouth and Portland 1974, 131 (Scheduling record). SWX1839.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 1:1250, 1979 (Map). SWX1844.

Hotel [NAT]

<5> Unknown, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, SC, 10-AUG-2007 (Verbal communication). SDO18976.

HER comment: possibly Sarah Champion, Field Monument Warden

<6> <http://www.goldenlionweymouth.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6 > accessed on 10-AUG-2007 (Digital archive). SDO18977.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 867993 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 3 2022 8:10AM