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Summary

Goodrington House, a former Napoleonic Naval Hospital is now the Inn on the Quay public house

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Torbay HER: MTO53415

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOUSE (XVIII - 1760 AD to 1800 AD (Between))
• MILITARY HOSPITAL (XVIII to XIX - 1800 AD to 1822 AD (Between))
• HOUSE (XIX to XX - 1822 AD to 1903 AD (Between))
• NUNNERY (XX to World War I - 1903 AD to 1918 AD)
• HOTEL (World War I to XX - 1918 AD to 1973 AD (Between))

Full description

Torbay HER record (SMR record). SDV361984.

Goodrington House was a private residence between circa 1765 and 1800. Benjamin Donn's Map of Devon of 1765 shows a road leading to, and linking Goodrington Sands with both Paignton and Goodrington but no building at the site. During the period of warfare with revolutionary France 1793-1802 the Channel Fleet was often anchored in the Bay; injury and illness were endemic. The withdrawl of the fleet's hospital ship - the converted 50-gun "Medusa" which had been on station in Torbay from 1796 - in the winter of 1799 was condemned by the Physician to the fleet, Thomas Trotter.

In August 1800 Trotter identified a 'large dwelling house near the beach' whose fitting up was accelerated by naval carpenters. An area of walled garden (SX85NE/111/1) was constructed to the landward side and a burial ground (SX85NE/111/2) established to the north above the beach. Mr Ball's Hopsital, as it was known, was functioning by November/December 1800, and was used for sailors and soldiers of the crown and for French prisoners of war. Diseases such as typhus and smallpox were treated. A number of staff appear to have caught serious infections from their patients and died. A considerable number of officers and men were interred in the cemetery and some had stones put up to their memory.

In 1822 the Admiralty sold the former hospital to Colonel Drake of Ipplepen. Between 1903 and 1918 the property was purchased for use as a Convent home by the Order of the Sacred Heart, In April 1918 it becqame a private residential hotel. In 1973 the house was bought by Torbay Council. [1][2][3][4]

Nine test pits were observed by Hal Bishop during the redevelopment of the site by Whitbread Severn Inns. In none of those adjacent to the building (test pits 1- 5) was natural found at any greater depth than 50cm below the current ground level. The building as it is now appears to be founded on natural. Archaeological deposits were observed by chance within the building, although it was impossible to investigate them.[5]

A fully detailed architectural and archaeological assessment compiled by Wessex Archaeology in 2009 profiled eight phases of construction from pre-1840 (possibly 18th century antecedents) to the present and highlighted possible below ground archaeology to the northeast.[6]

<1> Rhodes, M., 1995, The Inn on the Quay, Goodrington (* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist). SDV362100.

X

<2> Bishop, H.C., June 1995, A Proposed Development to the Walled Area of the Inn on the Quay, Goodrington Sands, Torbay, Devon (* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist). SDV362473.

X

<3> Pike, J., 1993, Torbay's Heritage: Paignton, p. 5-6 (Un-published). SDV362558.

X

<4> Pike, J., 1988, Facts about Goodrington (Un-published). SDV362561.

X

<5> Bishop, H.C., 1996, The Development of the Former Inn on the Quay, Goodrington Sands, Torbay, Devon by Whitbread Severn (* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist). SDV362101.

X

<6> Wessex Archaeology, 2009, Inn on the Quay, Goodrington: Architectural and Archaeological Assessment (* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist). SDV362352.

X

Sources / Further Reading

SDV361984	SMR record: Torbay HER record.
SDV362100	* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist: Rhodes, M.. 1995. The Inn on the Quay, Goodrington. .
SDV362473	* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist: Bishop, H.C.. June 1995. A Proposed Development to the Walled Area of the Inn on the Quay, Goodrington Sands, Torbay, Devon. .
	Linked documents:1
SDV362558	Un-published: Pike, J.. 1993. Torbay's Heritage: Paignton. p. 5-6.
SDV362561	Un-published: Pike, J.. 1988. Facts about Goodrington.
SDV362101	* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist: Bishop, H.C.. 1996. The Development of the Former Inn on the Quay, Goodrington Sands, Torbay, Devon by Whitbread Severn. .
SDV362352	* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist: Wessex Archaeology. 2009. Inn on the Quay, Goodrington: Architectural and Archaeological Assessment. . 70010.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7778 - Watching Brief at the Inn on the Quay by Hal Bishop - Feb 1996
• EDV7816 - Watching brief by Paul Gibbons - June 1995
• EDV7911 - Inn on the Quay, Goodrington: Architectural and Archaeological Assessment 2009
• EDV7894 - Walled Garden, Inn on the Quay, Goodrington: A survey of the archaeology and the implications of the development, conclusions and recommendations

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