Conan Doyle ‘haunted hotel’ under threat of demolition
Victorian Society in bid to save mansion where Sherlock creator held seances
A NEWLY discovered document showing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beliefs in spiritualism and the afterlife is being used to fight plans to demolish parts of a hotel where he held seances.
The Sherlock Holmes author had sketched drawings for the 1912 redesign of Lyndhurst Park Hotel, where The Beatles and Margaret Thatcher later stayed.
The revelation, unearthed by Brice Stratford, a local historian, was pivotal in preventing the Hampshire building from being demolished four years ago.
Now a new document has unlocked the secrets behind those designs, revealing how the rising turrets, crenels and towers at the front of the former hotel depict the author’s beliefs about the spiritual journey of the soul.
The Victorian Society is using the discovery to fight a planned partial destruction of the building to convert it into 79 apartments in the New Forest village of Lyndhurst.
Mr Stratford recently returned to the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection in Portsmouth to pore over vast volumes of the writer’s notes in the hope of discovering why the author made his first and only foray into architecture.
“I kept searching through albums of letters, notes, drawings and postcards before finding a second sketch showing the front of the hotel. This time there was writing on it,” he said.
From left to right, each section of the hotel’s bays were ascribed a stage that Doyle believed the soul transcended through – life, death, afterlife, spirits in harmony – before reaching a higher spiritual place. The sketch was signed “ACD”.
“It was like something from a Sherlock Holmes book because all the pieces of this puzzle suddenly clicked into place,” Mr Stratford, 34, said. “I was amazed and thrilled, particularly after slaving away over so many letters and sketches for so many days.”
Sir Arthur was attracted to the Victorian mansion, also known as Glasshayes House, because it had a reputation for being haunted. Sir Arthur’s 1912 extension even includes seven “Glasshayes Devil Squares” over the entrance, which are said to represent seven ghosts spotted by workers.
Sir Arthur even held seances in the octagonal tower of the building with Mary Ryland, the manageress and a keen spiritualist.
The Victorian Society’s letter to New Forest National Park Authority explains how since the 2017 discovery of the drawing “more evidence has been uncovered”.
“Drawings by Conan Doyle demonstrate how the design for the front facade was based on the spiritual view of the journey of the soul.
“Starting at ‘life’ to the east, the sections of facade rise and so represent ‘death’, ‘afterlife’, and at its peak, the ‘the higher spiritual place’.
“This is a bizarre, yet fascinating feature which should be championed as an asset to the building and highlighted in any scheme; the building is now not only a unique example of Conan Doyle’s architectural work, but also a tangible representation of his spiritual beliefs.”
While the society welcomed the developer’s decision to restore and keep elements of the facade, it is opposed to plans to remove a “significant” section of the “afterlife” part of the building, as well as the tower representing the “higher spiritual place”.
The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre in Edinburgh has also opposed the full development.
Hoburne Development has told planners it would retain the most historic part of the building if granted approval for the plans.