Upper Waiting Room, Cliff Railway

LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH

SS7149 LEE ROAD, Lynton 858-1/4/19 (North side (off)) Upper Waiting Room, Cliff Railway

II

Waiting room at head of cliff railway. 1890. Built by Bob Jones. A small pavilion incorporating a shop and a small room used by rail staff, but formerly a waiting room. Timber-framed, some rubble walling, asbestos cement slate roof. A hipped roof has, at the entrance end, set on the splay, a gabled 'dormer' above a wide overhanging eaves, which continues to the right, on timber brackets. The main framing members are chamfered and stopped at all junctions, and frame alternate wide and very narrow plate-glass lights above plastered panels. The door, on the splay, is panelled, with glass, and with vertical boards to the top panel, under a transom light. The far side, overlooking the tracks, has 2 large tripartite plate sashes. The under-eaves are boarded, and on the entry side there are cleats, probably to accommodate shutters, which no longer exist. At the E end, immediately under the eaves level, is a flat-roofed section enclosed in a rubble wall with moulded coping. INTERIORS: the shop interior has a boarded ceiling. The office has a plank dado. HISTORICAL NOTE: this cliff railway, the first of its kind in England, was opened on Easter Day, 1890. It resulted from the enterprise of Sir George Newnes, and Sir Thomas Hewitt, and is still operated by water. See also The Lower Waiting Room, The Esplanade, Lynmouth (qv).

Listing NGR: SS7195449608