Royal Castle Lodge (formerly The Lodge)

Early-C19 former entrance lodge to Lynton Cottage (Hotel), built in a Cottage-Ornée style, for William and Mary Sandford. The C20 timber lean to* on the east elevation is not included in the listing.

PLAN: two-room plan.

MATERIALS: rubble-stone topped by combed-wheat reed thatched roof.

EXTERIOR: a two-storey cottage. The front elevation (south) has an off-centre C20 stable-door. There is a three-light early-C19 timber casement window with central metal light, a rough-hewn wood lintel and stone sill on each floor. The lights have pointed heads. The roof has a marked overhang on this elevation, covering a first-floor external balcony. The timber balcony is surrounded by a decorative wood balustrade which has been subject to some repairs. It is accessed via a straight flight of stairs and rests on two stone posts, one of which is attached to the house by a straight-butt joint. There is a ground-floor two-light late-C20 casement window on the roadside (west) elevation. The east elevation includes a C20 two-light ground floor window and above is a small rectangular first-floor window. The rear elevation faces the rock-outcrop bank and has a late-C20 two-light window on the first floor. The thatched roof has a decorative ridge, over-hanging eaves and is topped by a stone ridge stack at the north end.

INTERIOR: the building is currently (2015) undergoing renovations*. This has involved the removal of all of the first-floor floorboards and the timber staircase, leaving only a spinal timber ceiling beam over the former ground-floor living room and two timber beams over the passage between the living room and kitchen. Part of the wall plaster has been removed as well. The two-room plan is divided by a stone wall in the north half of the building. The ground-floor main room has a late-C20 replacement fireplace with timber lintel and there is a C19 cast-iron fireplace in the room above. The fireplaces in the kitchen and the room above have been blocked.

• Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the aforementioned features including the lean to and all the late-C20 and C21 internal finishings, fixtures and fittings are not of special architectural or historic interest.