County Hotel

The County Hotel, formerly known as the Red Lion Hotel, is a building located on Botchergate in Carlisle. It was constructed between 1894 and 1896 for Samuel Bousfield, designed by J Murchie. The hotel features a façade made of calciferous sandstone ashlar, which includes string courses, sill bands, and a bracketed cornice. The roof is made of graduated greenslate with lead hips at the corners and pedimental dormer windows, complemented by ashlar and brick ridge chimney stacks.

The building stands three storeys high with an attic and consists of 13 bays. The corner block is taller, featuring an angled bay and a two-bay left return that faces The Crescent, topped with a pavilion roof. The entrance has 20th-century panelled doors and a radial fanlight set in a round-headed surround with polished granite pilasters, all beneath a bracketed hood. Above the door, there is incised lettering that reads "Red Lion Hotel." The ground floor has 20th-century shop windows separated by original polished granite pilasters. An oriel window above the entrance has a pediment, while other windows are sashes set in plain stone reveals, supported by carved brackets that hold up a balustraded balcony. The initials "S.B." are carved on the keystone above the door, representing the owner.

The corner range features paired sash windows with rounded heads on the first floor, framed by pilastered surrounds with lion's head keystones, and flattened-arched windows above in stone architraves. Inside, the ground floor is primarily occupied by shops, but there is a Royal Doulton tiled billiard room at the rear, although most of the original features were removed in 1990. Plans for the building dated 1893 are held in the Cumbria County Council Records Office. A photograph from 1988 shows workmen completing the roof, indicating it was likely taken in 1896 due to the presence of a horse bus.