'Beau Regard Hotel' - Clapcot/Wallingford

[kesaunders79]

I wondered if anyone may be able to help provide me with any information at all on the 'Beau Regard Hotel' that was run by my Great Great Grandmother Fanny Pleming probably between 1920-1930 sometime. I'm trying to find a picture of the Hotel and any infomation about it and would dearly like to locate a picture of Fanny Pleming too. Would anyone be old enough to remember her or the hotel, is it still there? I have searched the internet to no avail but did find one mention of it in an old directory of 1915 when somone called Fleetwood Wilson owned it in Clapcot.

[kpc]

The present day Shillingford Bridge Hotel (tel 01202 208 726) is part of the Forestdale Hotel group and has its own website. It stands at the Wallingford end of Shillingford Bridge at Shillingford Hill. The 'settlement' was formerly known as Clapcot and appears as such on the 1841 - 1881 UK census returns.

There is no Beau Regarde listed at any time - the present day hotel occupies the site of and extends the original Swan Inn, kept in 1841 by my gt gt gt grandfather James Kirkpatrick b. 1778 Aston Tirrold who had married Mary Parsons but was by 1841 a widower. His second son Benjamin married Charlotte Coates and their three sons were all born at the Swan. James died 1849.

By 1881 the landlord was a Reynolds and the inn was still known as the Swan.

Look at the website thames.me.uk/s01350.htm for images of the bridge (showing the inn) through the ages.

[newburychap]

There is no Beau Regarde listed at any time

Not sure where you get that idea from - it is listed in the 1931 Kelly's Directory for Berkshire (available on CD from Berks FHS). Proprietor at that time was William C Murrell.

[kpc]

Pardon me - I meant between 1841 and 1881 census returns. I don't think it is listed in the 1901 census either, which indicates a first appearance is in the 1910s and your researches show its existence by 1915 - maybe it was the Swan, renamed (if only one hotel was listed).

You might be able to check this on later 20th century census returns (not yet available online but surely you'll find them at Reading library) to determine the exact location from the sequence of listings. If it were a new build, that is likely to be on the west of the Thames (the east side being Shillingford) so it was probably constructed on the west bank, just upriver beyond the Swan, later being incorporated into the present hotel complex.

When I last visited the present hotel there were some early photographs of the local area displayed in the bar.

Good hunting.

[DebbieG]

Sorry - just a note here - you won't find later census returns at Reading Library (or anywhere else) the census is not available for public veiwing until it is 100 years old, the next one 1911 will be released at the start of 2012,  however they may have a good run of trade directories which might help you spot the apperance date of the Beau Regarde

Debbie

[kpc]

OK, I stand corrected again! Maybe Reading library has other reference material. Maybe the small Wallingford library has something to offer. I can't find any reference to more than one hotel located at Clapcot but there obviously was Kieron's 'Beau Regard' at some time in the early 20th C.

If it's of any interest - there's a set of photos (taken by Henry W Taunt in 1882 and later and part of the Frith collection) featuring Shillingford Bridge & the Swan hotel before & after its extension and name change - these are accessible on 'viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk. '  where Shillingford is given a 'Warborough Oxon' tag.

[newburychap]

OK, I stand corrected again! Maybe Reading library has other reference material. Maybe the small Wallingford library has something to offer. I can't find any reference to more than one hotel located at Clapcot but there obviously was Kieron's 'Beau Regard' at some time in the early 20th C.

From Kelly's directories -  there were three hotels in Clapcot in 1931 - the Shellingford Bridge, Beau-Regard and the Lanherne. In 1915 only the Shillingford Bridge is given as a hotel, the Beau Regard seems to have been a private house. By 1828 the Beau Regard is a hotel while the Lanherne appears for the first time in 1931. I don't have a copy of the 1920 Kelly's so gg granny Pleming might appear then (no proprietor is given in 1928 so she could be there then).
 
The telephone directory (1929) shows that the Lanherne is, in fact, an annex of the Beau Regard.

[Dave Francis]

Some snippets...

The Times, Saturday, Jun 19, 1920; pg. 6; Issue 42441; col A
The Estate Market
Old "Black and White" Houses
"Bishops Farm, a 16th century "black and white" house, near the Thames and Windsor Forest, rich in oak beams, panelling, and other origina features, is for sale, on July 21, by Messrs. Giddy and Giddy, with or without the antique furniture. On the same date Beau Regard, with 11 acres of grounds, having a frontage of 1000ft to the Thames and Shillingford, is to be disposed of. ..."

The Times, Saturday, Oct 22, 1927; pg. 20; Issue 44719; col F
"From the London Gazette
The Bankruptcy Acts, 1914 and 1926
Receiving Orders
...
Wilson, A F M., 9 Alexander-square, London SW1, hotel proprietor, carrying on business at Hotel "Beau Regard," Wallingford, Berks.
..."

The Times, Wednesday, Aug 22, 1928; pg. 4; Issue 44978; col A
London Hotels and Restaurants
(Adverts)
Wallingford - Hotel Beau-Regard - The principal Hotel on the upper reaches of the Thomas. ¼-mile river frontage. Resident Manager. 'Phone Warborough 38?7

[John (Thames.me.uk]

I run the Thames website http://thames.me.uk .  If anyone can correct details about the hotels at Shillingford (or better still give me a coherent account of them) I will add it to the site.
http://thames.me.uk/s01350.htm is the Shillingford page.
Email the webmaster on the introductory page.
Thanks
John