Historic Hotels

The theme for January is hotels in Dunbar and below there are photos of and comments on 3 historic Dunbar hotels.

The first photo shows a familiar building in Dunbar – The Bayswell Hotel – which was formerly known as Kerridge’s . A 1903 commercial directory – Slater’s – lists the hotels in Dunbar and includes “Kerridge’s Family hotel (facing the sea) (Mrs J. Kerridge, proprietress), Bayswell Park, Dunbar”. On the Scottish Military Research Group site, one of the comments on the Dunbar War Memorial quotes a source stating “Intimation has been received in Dunbar by his relatives that Private Louis Kerridge of the Cameron Highlanders, has been killed in action. He had been out of the trenches on eight days leave, and on the day in which he returned he was killed. A post-card was received by his children from him which bore the words “Be good. And God bless you.” Deceased was the son of Mrs Kerridge of Kerridge’s Hotel, and at one time was a very prominent player in the Dunbar Football Club.” A Bayswell Hotel researcher states that “The hotel was built in the 1890s and was then known as Kerridge’s Hotel. In 1901 Jane Kerridge was the Hotel Keeper. She was a widow aged 61”. Jane and George’s daughter was Emily who married Thomas Craig jnr in 1905. Jane a widow lived at Portlodge at the time. Emily and Thomas became the owners of the George Hotel (1911 census) then they moved into the Craig en Gelt Hotel around 1920.

This advert from The Haddingtonshire Courier in the History society archives does not have a date on it but will be in the 1890s. The hotel was originally owned by George Kerridge as indicated here, although there is no mention of his wife. An interesting reflection of the times is that the hotel is offering “good stabling”, presumably for those arriving in carriages and “good baths” as if a bath might not be taken for granted when staying in a hotel.

If you enlarge the photo above, you will see that the building at the bottom right is Jackson’s Hotel. This later became the Railway Hotel and then the Dolphin Hotel. At present, it is empty and awaiting development. Across the road is the house that would later become the Royal Mackintosh Hotel. The photo is part of the “Dunbar, From Church Tower” series.

This photo is of what is now the Hillside Hotel but at one time was a YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) guest house. Jim Herring recently met a 92 year old man from Edinburgh who remembered staying in the Hillside YMCA as a youth in the 1950s.