South Road Development - 1

The Croglin Castle Hotel

South Road The hotel was built in approximately 1875 alongside the Sedbergh toll road next to the station yard and has changed very little in over 125 years. Looking at the advertisement that appeared in Braithwaite’s Guide to Kirkby Stephen dated 1884, one chimney has been removed, a garage built to the side and UPVC replaces the casement sash windows, skylights have been added and the front rendered over what would appear to be bricks, even the original railway fence opposite was only replaced in 2011 when the footpath was made. There is a story that when the hotel was built is was supposed to be named after the earthworks Croglam Castle but the sign writer made a mistake and the name stuck.
Thomas Arnison, proprietor was born 1836 Bongate, Appleby and with his wife Mary Anne opened and ran the hotel for over ten years with the help of their daughters Caroline and Margaret plus various servants. Thomas and Mary had previously had an Inn in Kendal. They provided luxury suite accommodation on the first floor for the new railway tourists wishing to take advantage of the countryside and the nearby Stenkrith Waterfalls, the Rockery and Pleasure Grounds at Jubilee Park. They also specialised in Market Day home cooked meals for Auction Mart customers.
CroglinThe kitchen with the magnificent range cooker and storage was in the basement. The open plan ground floor was once divided into separate rooms for the bar area, dining and private living accommodation. The high ceilinged corniced guest rooms occupied the second floor with connecting doors and picture windows overlooking Ewbank Scar and Nine Standards. The servant’s quarters were in the roof.
The hotel has generally been a free house over the years and now serves the visitors from the caravan site that occupies the railway sidings. The hotel is believed to be haunted by a past landlady

The upper picture shows the view from the top of Jubilee Park around 1900 with the road bridge, carriage and engine sheds and early developments along South Road. The Croglin Castle Hotel is the building on the left immediately across the bridge.

 

 

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