Description

SHREWSBURY

SJ4912SW WYLE COP
653-1/15/739 (South side)
10/01/53 The Lion Hotel

GV I

Hotel, comprising 3 buildings. Earliest building is late C15,
altered early C19, the others late C18. Earliest building
render over timber-frame with plain tiled roof, the others
brick, roofs not visible behind parapets.
EXTERIOR: earliest building in the middle of the row: 3
storeys, 2-window range. Tripartite sashes with traceried
glazing in brick lower storey are C20 insertions, echoing the
design of the upper windows. First floor has projecting outer
bays with traceried tripartite sashes linked by a balcony with
paired cusped arches over it. Traceried glazing to
horizontally sliding sashes in upper storey.
Main block to right built as hotel in later C18, possibly
incorporating earlier structure. 4 storeys, 6-window range.
Painted brick to ground floor, with central door with Doric
columns carrying entablature which supports statue of lion,
flanked by 12-pane sash windows. Carriage entry to right.
Upper windows also 12-pane sashes with flat-arched gauged
brick heads (6 panes to attic). Central windows have moulded
stone architraves. Plain parapet eaves. Rear wing with bowed
gable end and round-arched windows houses ball room and music
room. Parapet has stone panel with mutilated coat of arms, and
formerly supported a lion carved by John Nelson of Shrewsbury
in 1777.
Lower block incorporated into hotel is c1800. 2 storeys,
4-window range. Painted brick to lower storey. Doorway to
right in open pediment, and 3 round-arched windows with
traceried glazing recessed in round-arched arcade. Upper
windows are 12-pane sashes with flat-arched gauged brick
heads. Moulded cornice to parapet eaves, gable end stacks.
INTERIOR: exposed framing visible in central section. Ball
room in rear wing on ground floor has dado panelling and fine
plasterwork panels between windows. Music room above has very
fine and elaborate decorative scheme in the style of Adam,
with low relief plaster swags and emblems of music in wall
panels, plain dado and enriched frieze. Paired marble
fireplaces. Balcony carried on polished marble columns, now
partitioned below. Open hall in front block is an early C20
feature, perhaps based on original structure, though nothing
survives. Wide segmentally-arched stone fireplace with
quatrefoil timber panels in hood. Leaded lights with armorial
stained glass panels.
An historic inn, closely associated with the London-Holyhead
mail coaches and with such persons as Dickens, De Quincey,
Paganini and Jenny Lind.

Listing NGR: SJ4931412340

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529687

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)