Royal Oak Hotel

The Royal Oak Hotel is a late 18th-century coaching inn with a significant extension dating from 1909-1910. It is located on Station Street in Keswick. The main front of the building features a scored stucco ground floor, with a pebbledashed finish above. It has two shouldered-arched entrances with Gibbs surrounds, and seven windows without glazing bars, separated by horizontal bands. The Station Street frontage of the older part of the building contains two stair windows, and three windows on each floor. A three-storey extension to the right (east) was added in 1909-10 and is characterised by slate cladding to the lower level, with the date visible above the doorway and on rainwater heads. The extension includes gables, four canted oriels, a stone doorway with a large round hood, twelve windows, and an angled wing at the east end. Most of the windows are 4-light casements with wood mullions and transoms, and some retain original ornamental glazing. Historically, the hotel served as the primary coaching inn for Keswick and was a popular meeting place for notable figures, including Sir Walter Scott, who wrote part of "Bridal of Triermain" while staying there. Lord Tennyson, Robert Louis Stevenson, and John Peel were also visitors. The interior is noted for its cornices.