Diglis Hotel

Diglis Hotel

A large house, now operating as a hotel, dating from the mid-18th century with later additions and alterations. The building is constructed in red brick with painted stone detailing. The riverside (west) range features a hipped slate roof partially concealed by a parapet, with a central ridge stack; the rear (east) range has a plain clay tile roof with a stack at each gable-end. All stacks have oversailing details and pots. Lead rolls finish the hipped roof, and flat lead roofs cover the canted bays. The doorcases are painted stucco.

The plan is L-shaped with a rear hall serving the riverside range and a staircase in the rear range adjacent to this hall.

The riverside range presents a symmetrical facade on its west elevation. The centre section breaks forward slightly and is topped with a pediment. The building is two storeys. The first floor has four windows arranged 1:2:1 across the facade. Stone detailing includes a modillion cornice, capped fluted keystones to the window heads, and stone sills. All windows are 6/6 sashes set in plain reveals with flat gauged brick arches. A lunette within the pediment features a radial glazing bar pattern. The centre ground-floor windows are also 6/6 and open to floor level, with French windows flanking a central opening and each fitted with an overlight. The left (north) and right (south) returns have similar 6/6 fenestration, with an entrance in each return. These entrances have Ionic-style pilasters and open pediment doorcases with part-glazed doors and leaded-light fanlights.

The principal south elevation of the rear range displays an almost symmetrical facade with a pair of full-height canted bays flanking a central entrance. The building rises two storeys with an attic. There are three first-floor windows. Detailing includes a plain eaves band beneath a painted dentil course and a plain band between the ground and first-floor windows. This band does not continue around the bays, suggesting they are later additions. The bay windows are topped with a moulded cornice. Fenestration is 6/6:6/6:6/6. The centre first-floor window is 6/6 in a near-flush frame beneath a flat gauged brick arch. There are four cambered-head dormers, each with 3/3 sashes. A 20th-century multi-pane glazed entrance door occupies the ground-floor centre.

The interior was not inspected.

Diglis House, as it was originally known, was the home of Edward Leader Williams, Chief Engineer to the Severn Navigation Commission. His son, Benjamin Leader Williams (born in the house in 1831), became renowned as a landscape artist under the reversed name B Leader Williams. His brother, Edward (born 1828), followed his father's profession and became Chief Engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal. Later residents included Mr RW Binns and his family. Binns was a partner in the porcelain works at Diglis from 1851 and subsequently a manager when the works became Royal Worcester Porcelain in 1862. On his retirement in 1897, he was retained as a director until his death in 1900.

The Worcester Daily Times Trade and Industrial Edition of 1903 records that Mr Andrew Carpenter, proprietor of the Diglis House Brewery, acquired the house in 1902 and operated it as a public house serving his own brew. The article notes that the building was 'lighted by electricity generated on the premises'. According to historical sources, Diglis House was built on the site of a previous house belonging to William Berkeley, which was destroyed during the Civil War in 1643.