Petwood Hotel

The Petwood Hotel is a hotel dating from 1905, with extensions added in 1910. It is built on a red brick plinth, with the remainder of the building executed in a fanciful half-timbered Tudor style, featuring plain tiled roofs and ten clustered red brick stacks. The building has an L-shaped plan and an irregular facade of three and two storeys. The prominent entrance bay, of seven bays, has a carved ashlar ground floor featuring a moulded stone doorway with shields in the spandrels, flanked by single lights with semi-circular heads. Above this is an oriel window with a central bow window that extends through two floors and has a highly ornate timber frieze at its base. The gable over the oriel is decorated with a criss-cross design. To the right of the entrance bay is a tall stair window with decorative leaded lights set under a scalloped gable. The three bays beyond contain a variety of three and four-light openings. The gabled end bay houses the Ballroom, added around 1910. To the left are two gabled bays containing five-light openings. The three-storey cross wing has five decorative gables and a mix of two, three, and four-light openings. At ground floor level, a single-storey range extends across the front of the cross wing, containing six windows of differing sizes and a pair of double doors with flanking windows. All windows have timber mullions and leaded lights. The interior features a fine stair hall with a geometric Elizabethan-style stair and gallery landing. The stair has carved newels with a strapwork design, paired carved balusters with lion’s feet, and the hall is oak-panelled to a dentillated picture rail. The oak room has similar panelling and a stone fireplace with a carved oak mantle comprising three recessed arches over the fireplace, flanked by pairs of highly ornate Ionic columns. Several suites on the first floor have decorative fireplaces with matching mirrors. The hotel was owned by the Maples family, known for their furniture business, which explains the high quality of the fittings. During the Second World War, it was used as the Officers Mess for the famous 617 Squadron.