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Felixstowe Bath Hotel

Felixstowe Bath Hotel

also traded as Hamilton Hotel, Hermitage, Reynolds

South, 51.96241,1.36055

closed 1914

opened 1839

Bath Hill

grid reference TM 309 346

The hotel can be seen here on the 1903 OS map. The pub immediately to the south of the hotel was probably the Bath Hotel Tap.

old OS map

The Bath Hotel was built in 1839 for John Cobbold and originally called the Hamilton Hotel.

It has also been referred to as the Hamilton Arms, which was renamed to the Bath Hotel in the 1860s. It may also have been at one time the Hamilton Temperance Hotel (a time at which it won't have been of great interest to visitors to this site).

The hotel burned down on April 28th, 1914 after incendiary devices were planted by militant Suffragettes. Hilda Birkett and Florence Tunks set fire to the hotel as part of their "Votes for Women" campaign. The hotel was empty at the time, but was completely gutted. Crowds gathered for their trial at Bury Assizes on 29th May, where they both received prison sentences.

Interestingly, at the time of the fire, it was operated by Cobbold's but owned by Tollemache.

The 1904 Woodbridge licensing records show that the Bath's license was issued in 1853. Whether this was when it was first licensed or when it got a full (ie not just beer) license isn't clear, though the latter seems more probable.

In 1865 they advertised warm and sea salt baths and billiards. The hotel was also listed at Beach Road East (in 1912).

Map

map

Gallery

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Historical interest

Historical interest

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Landlords

Landlords

(Most pub, location & historic details collated by Nigel, Tony or Keith - original sources are credited)

(some old PO directory information courtesy of londonpublichouse.com)

(** historic newspaper information from Stuart Ansell)

(*** historic newspaper information from Bob Mitchell)

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