Castle Hotel, Newcastle-under-Lyme

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The Castle Hotel, Newcastle-under-Lyme
to.. a row of retail shops

In 1851 Thomas Venables was the proprietor of the Castle Hotel, 22 High Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The Castle Hotel, the only Newcastle coaching house to have survived to the present day

This photograph taken in 1962 shows the High Street in Newcastle-under-Lyme before the days of pedestrianisation - as the rows of parked cars prove. The Guildhall stands prominently to the left of the picture and the Castle Hotel and Garage can be seen to the right of the picture in the middle of a row of shops. The Castle Hotel was once one of the town's busiest coaching inns and although no longer a hotel the facade of the building is still easily recognisable today.

Sunday Morning, The Castle Hotel, Newcastle

This view of The Castle Hotel that stood on the High Street in Newcastle-under-Lyme was painted, signed and dated by Reginald G. Haggar on 11th May 1969.
In front of the hotel to the left of the painting the Guildhall pillars can be seen. There are two 1960's style cars parked outside the Guildhall in the centre of the painting.

pictures: © Borough Museum and Art Gallery, Newcastle under Lyme
Staffordshire Past Track

the previous Castle Hotel building - April 2009
the premises occupied by Superdrug and "PJ's - Blinds Direct"

The Guildhall and the Castle Hotel occupied a prime position in the busy High Street and market place.......

"The principal street is long and spacious, and many of the houses well-built. The marketplace is in the centre, and forms a fine open space, in which stands the Guild or Town Hall, raised on columns and arches, so as to form a covered market underneath. Monday is the chartered market day for corn, &c., but here is also a large Saturday market for flesh, vegetables, &c.; and no fewer than twelve annual fairs, (toll free for horses and cattle,) held on the Plough Monday, the second Monday in February, on Shrove, Easter, and Whit-Mondays; the second Mondays in May, July, August, October, and December, the third Monday in September, and the first Monday in November. That in July is called the wool fair, that in September the wakes fair, and that in November the cold fair."

"The town hall, or Guild Hall, is a large brick building, with stone pilasters, &c., in the spacious Market place, standing on pillars and arches, which form a covered market. About twenty years ago, it was crowned by an elegant cupola, in which are two transparent clock dials, first illuminated with gas in 1833, by subscription.
A house in High street, belonging to the Corporation, now comprises the Public Office, Police Station, and three Cells for the temporary confinement of prisoners. A small borough prison formed part of the old parish workhouse, which was pulled down after the formation of the union. Plot mentions an iron bridle formerly used here as a cure for scolds, and says it was much better adapted for the purpose than the cucKng stool.
In early times malefactors were executed here, and near the town is Gallows Field, where a number of human bones have been found, and where Plot says a perfect skull was found, imbedded, in a solid stone, supposed to have been sand when the body was interred."

From: William White's 1851 Directory of Staffordshire

advertisement for the coaching inn - Castle Hotel - 1839
From: A History of the County of Stafford

"As the principal road through the town High Street contained several important coaching inns by the beginning of the 19th century. The most notable at this period was the 'Roebuck' which Lord Torrington described in 1792 as the largest inn of the town but at the same time as 'one of the most savage, dirty alehouses' he had ever entered.
In 1839 the owner of the Castle Hotel opposite announced that he had acquired 'the horses, chaises, flys, hearses etc.' from the 'Roebuck's' late proprietor.

The Castle Hotel, the only coaching house to have survived..... appears to have opened c. 1820, but the building may be a little older. The stucco front of three stories has a central doorway flanked by large two-storied bay windows. The space between the bays on the first floor was formerly occupied by an elaborate castle sign. An extension to the south of the building is of comparatively recent date."

From: A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8 (1963)

The Guildhall is pictured still residing over the town. The Guildhall was built in 1713, the ground floor originally being open. The building has been altered through the years and was a public house in 2002.
The white building of the Castle Hotel can be seen to the right of the Guildhall. The Hotel was opened in around 1820 and was a popular coaching stop for traffic to and from Liverpool and Manchester, before the arrival of the railways. The building still stands having been, amongst other things, Tescos and a shoe shop.