7th Division's Headquarters Lyndhurst 1914

[Sandcroft]

At which hotel in Lyndhurst were situated the 7th Division's Headquarters in September/October 1914?

Interestingly, in the book 'The Immortal Seventh' the Crown Hotel is mentioned, but in 'A Galloper at Ypres' General Capper is mentioned at 'The Grand' and "with conferences in the Hotel ball-room each evening."

Does anyone know which it was?

Regards,

Sandcroft

[Steven Broomfield]

I spent the first night of my married life there........

Lyndhurst Park Hotel: a converted 1850's Georgian Mansion. It's right next to the open space known as (I believe) The Bench on the outskirts of the town.

[green_acorn]

Sandcroft,

I don't know the answer but can I make the observation that it wouldn't be unusual for the Div Comd and his CofS to live and "mess" from another building.

Fascinating to herar about Lyndhurst, when I was a child and my father was posted on exchange to Marchwood we used to go to church at Lyndhurst. I still remember the long convoys that used to go through to the military port embarking for the annual NATO reinforcement exercise.

cheers,

Hendo

[Sandcroft]

Thank you for your interesting replies.

Having seen an old photograph of the rear of the Grand Hotel and a modern view of the Park Hotel they look very similar. I checked with the 1901 census for Lyndhurst and it does not appear to have a Park Hotel.

Is the Park Hotel formerly the Grand?

Regards,

Sandcroft

[sotonmate]

Sandcroft

The Crown Hotel is further up the High Street than the Park Hotel (it's Bolton's Bench,Steve and the scene of many an enjoyable cricket innings for me) and opposite the church that Hendo would visit as a child. It could well be that the Park was the Grand in a previous existence,it has a ballroom but I am not sure if it is original or a later add-on. Here a pic of the Crown, I think it was an old Coaching Inn quite a while back (but not when I was a child!):

http://www.activehotels.com/1/4/8715-best-...-lyndhurst.html

Sotonmate

[Sandcroft]

Sotonmate; Many thanks for the information.

In the 'A Galloper at Ypres' Lyndhurst is described as, " a most charming little old-fashioned place, quite unspoilt." It would appear that from your fond cricketing reminiscence, that this is still very much the the case.

Regards,

Sandcroft

[Ghost]

Yes the Park hotel used to be called the Grand.

Alan

[ianw]

I think the New Zealanders latterly had a GW connection with Lyndhurst - as a Sotonian I remember it for some nasty traffic jams when coming back from the New Forest.

[sotonmate]

sandford/ianw

Ian has hit the nail on the head,Lyndhurst SHOULD be a tranquil place but the through traffic for this centre of the New Forest National Park is constantly queue-ing down the main street ! There is supposed to be a relief road at some time,but where to put it in this area of natural beauty? The locals disagree on which route AND one of the suggestions goes through my cricket pitch! Hmmpph !

The NZ boys had a couple of hospitals to the east of Lyndhurst in WW1,at the Balmer Lawn Hotel,Brockenhurst,and the NZ No1 Military which was past Brockenhurst and on the road to Lymington. See:

http://www.southernlife.org.uk/nzindex.htm

Sotonmate

[FROGSMILE]

Quite sad to see what became of the hotel mentioned as the Grand during WW1 and occupied by HQ 7th Infantry Div before their embarkation.  It was subsequently the Lyndhurst Park Hotel.  This video was taken 6-years ago and the hotel has since been demolished and replaced by a modern housing estate.  Nevertheless one still gets a feel for how it might have looked in 1914: