GUESTBOOK In the 1950s and 1960s The Lygon Arms boasted one of the most glamorous guest books in the world. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stayed here in September 1963 at the height of the scandal surrounding their affair. Cleopatra had just been released in Britain and The VIPs had just opened in America. Burton put their joint address simply as “Switzerland”, the home that his wife Sybil had recently abandoned. Other film star couples included Mary Pickford (20 June 1955) from “Beverly Hills, California” with her third husband, actor and jazz musician, Charles “Buddy” Rogers; Michael Redgrave (4 July 1951) with his wife Rachel Kempson, who signed herself as “Rachel Redgrave”; and Moira Shearer (25 April 1953) who at the time was much better- known than her husband Ludovic Kennedy; and Ann Todd (9 May 1953) who had recently made The Sound Barrier with her new husband, director David Lean. She signed herself Ann Todd Lean and was in fact the third of six Mrs Leans. The couple divorced in 1957. Stars staying on their own included Claudette Colbert (18 May 1952); Vivien Leigh (20 July 1955); Rod Steiger (24 November 1959); and Paul Robeson three days later. Both Vivien Leigh and Paul Robeson were taking a break from rehearsals at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford. For both stars, Stratford was personally very important. Leigh was struggling with depression and appearing with her husband Laurence Olivier in a production of Twelfth Night. It was directed by John Gielgud, who noted in his diary that “her little ladyship..is brainier than he but not a born actress. He dares too confidently... but she hardly dares at all and is terrified of overreaching her technique and doing anything that she has not killed the spontaneity of by overpractice”. In August 1966 Cary Grant stayed at The Lygon Arms just after the release of his final film Walk Don’t Run. His only child, Jennifer, had been born six months earlier and Grant gave the desire not to miss out on her childhood as one of the reasons for his retirement. The guest book does not record whether Jennifer and her mother Dyan Cannon were travelling with him. The hotel’s guest book is still in use and lists not just actors and movie stars, but politicians, prime ministers and even Prince Philip on its pages. From James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to Captain Kirk (William Shatner and family) everyone stays at The Lygon Arms. The Lygon Arms, High Street, Broadway, WR12 7DU T: 01386 852255 [email protected] www.lygonarmshotel.co.uk THE HISTORY OF THE LYGON ARMS HOW THE HOTEL GREW Today The Lygon Arms in Broadway looks exactly how you would expect Then in 1820 General Henry Beauchamp Lygon, who had served with the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, bought a Cotswold estate that included A plan of 1680 shows the central historic block of the hotel looking very much an old Cotswold inn to appear. Stone fireplaces, heavy wooden doors, the hotel. In 1841, when he was MP for West Worcestershire, Lygon either installed as it does today, although the sitting room to the left of the entrance is now the uneven flagstones, mullioned windows and creaking floorboards denote a his butler as manager or his butler left his service to become the manager of reception lobby. There were five bedchambers on the first floor (now reduced to history that goes back to medieval times when this hostelry was known as the White Hart Inn (accounts vary). Either way Charles Stuart Drury, the former the King Charles Suite, No 3, No 5, and the Cromwell Room for functions). The butler, renamed this inn after his patron. By 1867 Drury was able to buy The second floor was made up of four bedchambers and two small rooms, which were the White Hart Inn. Lygon Arms outright and it was passed down through his family until it was sold reserved for servants travelling with their masters in 1903. (now bedrooms 7, 8, 10 and 12). This layout is still Nowadays the hotel’s appearance is The royalist cause was lost not far recognisable in plans redrawn in 1814, although by predominantly Tudor, reflecting the from Broadway in 1651 when King The new owner was Sydney Bolton Russell, whose son began restoring antique then the kitchen had been moved to the back of the prosperity of Broadway as a staging Charles’ son Charles II was defeated by furniture for the hotel in a loft over the Lygon’s coach house. Gordon Russell ground floor to create a second parlour. You can post on the route between Wales, Cromwell’s army, and royalists fled in was to become one of England’s leading furniture designers in the 1930s. He still see the evidence of the seventeenth-century Worcester and London in Elizabethan dismay through Broadway. Nine years created the iconic Murphy Radio Cabinet and the seating for Coventry Cathedral. cooking range today in the left hand parlour. times. Over the centuries Broadway’s later, following the death of Cromwell, Some of his pieces are still to be found in the hotel today. The twentieth century pre-eminent inn has had many owners, Charles II was recrowned and England opened up new possibilities for The Lygon Arms. In 1910 a major development was initiated by including the Whyte/Treavis family settled down to a prolonged period of the new owner, Sydney Bolton Russell. Russell back in the sixteenth and seventeenth stability. During the eighteenth century employed Sir Aston Webb to construct a Great Hall The development of the motorcar and charabanc meant that the hotel could centuries. Over the arch of the front the White Hart Inn passed through over the hotel’s garden and the old eighteenth- become a destination in its own right rather than a staging post. King Edward door you can see where John Treavis many owners, expanding eventually century assembly room. Webb, who had designed VII motored out here in 1905 and in 1913 so did his grandson the playboy prince carved his name in 1620. However the to have its own wine cellar, granary, the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham and future King Edward VIII. The English middle classes followed where they led. inn leaps dramatically into the history stables and dairy. Palace, incorporated a salvaged seventeenth In the interwar years and right up until the 1960s The Lygon Arms was also a books during the English Civil War century barrel-vaulted ceiling into what is now the popular destination for Hollywood actors visiting England and British celebrities that pitted Queen Elizabeth’s cousin hotel’s dining room. Becoming an important staging post followed their example, take a look at our enviable Guest Book overleaf. Charles I against the forces of the for mail coaches between London After World War I the premises of the Capital and English Parliament. and Wales in the eighteenth century, County, Broadway’s first bank, were incorporated the White Hart was able to offer a into the hotel. The ground floor of this extension Oliver Cromwell, who led the change of horses and even provide a served first as a buttery and since 2013 it has been Parliamentary army, slept at the White coach-and-four for guests who needed WHAT’S IN A NAME? used as a Brasserie. Hart Inn in 1651, the night before onward transport. the Battle of Worcester that finally The first written record of The Lygon destroyed the royalist cause. Today his Throughout this century and right Arms dates back to 1377 when it was bedroom is known as the Cromwell up until the end of the nineteenth, referred to as the White Hart. The hart, Room, and a copy of his famous Worcestershire was an important a mature stag, was the personal symbol “warts and all” portrait is now hanging trading county for light manufactured of King Richard II (1367-1400). After in the reception area. King Charles I, goods. Gloves were made in Worcester Richard’s usurpation by his cousin Henry Cromwell’s adversary, also used the itself, nails in Halesowen, carpets in IV, the inn tactfully changed its name to inn on various occasions to meet his Kidderminster and needles in Redditch. the White Swan in 1400. The swan was a supporters in Worcestershire. Much of this trade passed through symbol of the House of Lancaster. Broadway on its way to market in Under Henry’s Lancastrian son, Henry V, the inn took on the name the Hart They assembled here for the last time London, Gloucester and Bristol. and Swan. In the reign of James I it called itself simply The George but by in 1649 in what is now known as the 1620 records show it was being referred to as The Swan again. By 1641 it Charles I Suite. Visitors will notice the had reverted back to The White Hart. King’s coat of arms over one of its fireplaces and the fact that the face In 1820 General Henry Beauchamp Lygon bought a Cotswold estate that of the royal lion has been hacked off, included the White Hart. In 1841 his butler was installed as manager of presumably by Parliamentarians. the White Hart and renamed the inn after General Lygon and so it has remained through five subsequent owners. HOW THE HOTEL GREW Today The Lygon Arms in Broadway looks exactly how you would expect Then in 1820 General Henry Beauchamp Lygon, who had served with the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, bought a Cotswold estate that included A plan of 1680 shows the central historic block of the hotel looking very much an old Cotswold inn to appear. Stone fireplaces, heavy wooden doors, the hotel. In 1841, when he was MP for West Worcestershire, Lygon either installed as it does today, although the sitting room to the left of the entrance is now the uneven flagstones, mullioned windows and creaking floorboards denote a his butler as manager or his butler left his service to become the manager of reception lobby. There were five bedchambers on the first floor (now reduced to history that goes back to medieval times when this hostelry was known as the White Hart Inn (accounts vary). Either way Charles Stuart Drury, the former the King Charles Suite, No 3, No 5, and the Cromwell Room for functions). The butler, renamed this inn after his patron. By 1867 Drury was able to buy The second floor was made up of four bedchambers and two small rooms, which were the White Hart Inn. Lygon Arms outright and it was passed down through his family until it was sold reserved for servants travelling with their masters in 1903. (now bedrooms 7, 8, 10 and 12). This layout is still Nowadays the hotel’s appearance is The royalist cause was lost not far recognisable in plans redrawn in 1814, although by predominantly Tudor, reflecting the from Broadway in 1651 when King The new owner was Sydney Bolton Russell, whose son began restoring antique then the kitchen had been moved to the back of the prosperity of Broadway as a staging Charles’ son Charles II was defeated by furniture for the hotel in a loft over the Lygon’s coach house. Gordon Russell ground floor to create a second parlour. You can post on the route between Wales, Cromwell’s army, and royalists fled in was to become one of England’s leading furniture designers in the 1930s. He still see the evidence of the seventeenth-century Worcester and London in Elizabethan dismay through Broadway. Nine years created the iconic Murphy Radio Cabinet and the seating for Coventry Cathedral. cooking range today in the left hand parlour. times. Over the centuries Broadway’s later, following the death of Cromwell, Some of his pieces are still to be found in the hotel today. The twentieth century pre-eminent inn has had many owners, Charles II was recrowned and England opened up new possibilities for The Lygon Arms. In 1910 a major development was initiated by including the Whyte/Treavis family settled down to a prolonged period of the new owner, Sydney Bolton Russell. Russell back in the sixteenth and seventeenth stability. During the eighteenth century employed Sir Aston Webb to construct a Great Hall The development of the motorcar and charabanc meant that the hotel could centuries. Over the arch of the front the White Hart Inn passed through over the hotel’s garden and the old eighteenth- become a destination in its own right rather than a staging post. King Edward door you can see where John Treavis many owners, expanding eventually century assembly room. Webb, who had designed VII motored out here in 1905 and in 1913 so did his grandson the playboy prince carved his name in 1620. However the to have its own wine cellar, granary, the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham and future King Edward VIII. The English middle classes followed where they led. inn leaps dramatically into the history stables and dairy. Palace, incorporated a salvaged seventeenth In the interwar years and right up until the 1960s The Lygon Arms was also a books during the English Civil War century barrel-vaulted ceiling into what is now the popular destination for Hollywood actors visiting England and British celebrities that pitted Queen Elizabeth’s cousin hotel’s dining room. Becoming an important staging post followed their example, take a look at our enviable Guest Book overleaf. Charles I against the forces of the for mail coaches between London After World War I the premises of the Capital and English Parliament. and Wales in the eighteenth century, County, Broadway’s first bank, were incorporated the White Hart was able to offer a into the hotel. The ground floor of this extension Oliver Cromwell, who led the change of horses and even provide a served first as a buttery and since 2013 it has been Parliamentary army, slept at the White coach-and-four for guests who needed WHAT’S IN A NAME? used as a Brasserie. Hart Inn in 1651, the night before onward transport. the Battle of Worcester that finally The first written record of The Lygon destroyed the royalist cause. Today his Throughout this century and right Arms dates back to 1377 when it was bedroom is known as the Cromwell up until the end of the nineteenth, referred to as the White Hart. The hart, Room, and a copy of his famous Worcestershire was an important a mature stag, was the personal symbol “warts and all” portrait is now hanging trading county for light manufactured of King Richard II (1367-1400). After in the reception area. King Charles I, goods. Gloves were made in Worcester Richard’s usurpation by his cousin Henry Cromwell’s adversary, also used the itself, nails in Halesowen, carpets in IV, the inn tactfully changed its name to inn on various occasions to meet his Kidderminster and needles in Redditch. the White Swan in 1400. The swan was a supporters in Worcestershire. Much of this trade passed through symbol of the House of Lancaster. Broadway on its way to market in Under Henry’s Lancastrian son, Henry V, the inn took on the name the Hart They assembled here for the last time London, Gloucester and Bristol. and Swan. In the reign of James I it called itself simply The George but by in 1649 in what is now known as the 1620 records show it was being referred to as The Swan again. By 1641 it Charles I Suite. Visitors will notice the had reverted back to The White Hart. King’s coat of arms over one of its fireplaces and the fact that the face In 1820 General Henry Beauchamp Lygon bought a Cotswold estate that of the royal lion has been hacked off, included the White Hart. In 1841 his butler was installed as manager of presumably by Parliamentarians. the White Hart and renamed the inn after General Lygon and so it has remained through five subsequent owners. HOW THE HOTEL GREW Today The Lygon Arms in Broadway looks exactly how you would expect Then in 1820 General Henry Beauchamp Lygon, who had served with the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, bought a Cotswold estate that included A plan of 1680 shows the central historic block of the hotel looking very much an old Cotswold inn to appear. Stone fireplaces, heavy wooden doors, the hotel. In 1841, when he was MP for West Worcestershire, Lygon either installed as it does today, although the sitting room to the left of the entrance is now the uneven flagstones, mullioned windows and creaking floorboards denote a his butler as manager or his butler left his service to become the manager of reception lobby. There were five bedchambers on the first floor (now reduced to history that goes back to medieval times when this hostelry was known as the White Hart Inn (accounts vary). Either way Charles Stuart Drury, the former the King Charles Suite, No 3, No 5, and the Cromwell Room for functions). The butler, renamed this inn after his patron. By 1867 Drury was able to buy The second floor was made up of four bedchambers and two small rooms, which were the White Hart Inn. Lygon Arms outright and it was passed down through his family until it was sold reserved for servants travelling with their masters in 1903. (now bedrooms 7, 8, 10 and 12). This layout is still Nowadays the hotel’s appearance is The royalist cause was lost not far recognisable in plans redrawn in 1814, although by predominantly Tudor, reflecting the from Broadway in 1651 when King The new owner was Sydney Bolton Russell, whose son began restoring antique then the kitchen had been moved to the back of the prosperity of Broadway as a staging Charles’ son Charles II was defeated by furniture for the hotel in a loft over the Lygon’s coach house. Gordon Russell ground floor to create a second parlour. You can post on the route between Wales, Cromwell’s army, and royalists fled in was to become one of England’s leading furniture designers in the 1930s. He still see the evidence of the seventeenth-century Worcester and London in Elizabethan dismay through Broadway. Nine years created the iconic Murphy Radio Cabinet and the seating for Coventry Cathedral. cooking range today in the left hand parlour. times. Over the centuries Broadway’s later, following the death of Cromwell, Some of his pieces are still to be found in the hotel today. The twentieth century pre-eminent inn has had many owners, Charles II was recrowned and England opened up new possibilities for The Lygon Arms. In 1910 a major development was initiated by including the Whyte/Treavis family settled down to a prolonged period of the new owner, Sydney Bolton Russell. Russell back in the sixteenth and seventeenth stability. During the eighteenth century employed Sir Aston Webb to construct a Great Hall The development of the motorcar and charabanc meant that the hotel could centuries. Over the arch of the front the White Hart Inn passed through over the hotel’s garden and the old eighteenth- become a destination in its own right rather than a staging post. King Edward door you can see where John Treavis many owners, expanding eventually century assembly room. Webb, who had designed VII motored out here in 1905 and in 1913 so did his grandson the playboy prince carved his name in 1620. However the to have its own wine cellar, granary, the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham and future King Edward VIII. The English middle classes followed where they led. inn leaps dramatically into the history stables and dairy. Palace, incorporated a salvaged seventeenth In the interwar years and right up until the 1960s The Lygon Arms was also a books during the English Civil War century barrel-vaulted ceiling into what is now the popular destination for Hollywood actors visiting England and British celebrities that pitted Queen Elizabeth’s cousin hotel’s dining room. Becoming an important staging post followed their example, take a look at our enviable Guest Book overleaf. Charles I against the forces of the for mail coaches between London After World War I the premises of the Capital and English Parliament. and Wales in the eighteenth century, County, Broadway’s first bank, were incorporated the White Hart was able to offer a into the hotel. The ground floor of this extension Oliver Cromwell, who led the change of horses and even provide a served first as a buttery and since 2013 it has been Parliamentary army, slept at the White coach-and-four for guests who needed WHAT’S IN A NAME? used as a Brasserie. Hart Inn in 1651, the night before onward transport. the Battle of Worcester that finally The first written record of The Lygon destroyed the royalist cause. Today his Throughout this century and right Arms dates back to 1377 when it was bedroom is known as the Cromwell up until the end of the nineteenth, referred to as the White Hart. The hart, Room, and a copy of his famous Worcestershire was an important a mature stag, was the personal symbol “warts and all” portrait is now hanging trading county for light manufactured of King Richard II (1367-1400). After in the reception area. King Charles I, goods. Gloves were made in Worcester Richard’s usurpation by his cousin Henry Cromwell’s adversary, also used the itself, nails in Halesowen, carpets in IV, the inn tactfully changed its name to inn on various occasions to meet his Kidderminster and needles in Redditch. the White Swan in 1400. The swan was a supporters in Worcestershire. Much of this trade passed through symbol of the House of Lancaster. Broadway on its way to market in Under Henry’s Lancastrian son, Henry V, the inn took on the name the Hart They assembled here for the last time London, Gloucester and Bristol. and Swan. In the reign of James I it called itself simply The George but by in 1649 in what is now known as the 1620 records show it was being referred to as The Swan again. By 1641 it Charles I Suite. Visitors will notice the had reverted back to The White Hart. King’s coat of arms over one of its fireplaces and the fact that the face In 1820 General Henry Beauchamp Lygon bought a Cotswold estate that of the royal lion has been hacked off, included the White Hart. In 1841 his butler was installed as manager of presumably by Parliamentarians. the White Hart and renamed the inn after General Lygon and so it has remained through five subsequent owners. GUESTBOOK In the 1950s and 1960s The Lygon Arms boasted one of the most glamorous guest books in the world. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stayed here in September 1963 at the height of the scandal surrounding their affair. Cleopatra had just been released in Britain and The VIPs had just opened in America. Burton put their joint address simply as “Switzerland”, the home that his wife Sybil had recently abandoned. Other film star couples included Mary Pickford (20 June 1955) from “Beverly Hills, California” with her third husband, actor and jazz musician, Charles “Buddy” Rogers; Michael Redgrave (4 July 1951) with his wife Rachel Kempson, who signed herself as “Rachel Redgrave”; and Moira Shearer (25 April 1953) who at the time was much better- known than her husband Ludovic Kennedy; and Ann Todd (9 May 1953) who had recently made The Sound Barrier with her new husband, director David Lean. She signed herself Ann Todd Lean and was in fact the third of six Mrs Leans. The couple divorced in 1957. Stars staying on their own included Claudette Colbert (18 May 1952); Vivien Leigh (20 July 1955); Rod Steiger (24 November 1959); and Paul Robeson three days later. Both Vivien Leigh and Paul Robeson were taking a break from rehearsals at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford. For both stars, Stratford was personally very important. Leigh was struggling with depression and appearing with her husband Laurence Olivier in a production of Twelfth Night. It was directed by John Gielgud, who noted in his diary that “her little ladyship..is brainier than he but not a born actress. He dares too confidently... but she hardly dares at all and is terrified of overreaching her technique and doing anything that she has not killed the spontaneity of by overpractice”. In August 1966 Cary Grant stayed at The Lygon Arms just after the release of his final film Walk Don’t Run. His only child, Jennifer, had been born six months earlier and Grant gave the desire not to miss out on her childhood as one of the reasons for his retirement. The guest book does not record whether Jennifer and her mother Dyan Cannon were travelling with him. The hotel’s guest book is still in use and lists not just actors and movie stars, but politicians, prime ministers and even Prince Philip on its pages. From James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to Captain Kirk (William Shatner and family) everyone stays at The Lygon Arms. The Lygon Arms, High Street, Broadway, WR12 7DU T: 01386 852255 [email protected] www.lygonarmshotel.co.uk THE HISTORY OF THE LYGON ARMS GUESTBOOK In the 1950s and 1960s The Lygon Arms boasted one of the most glamorous guest books in the world. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stayed here in September 1963 at the height of the scandal surrounding their affair. Cleopatra had just been released in Britain and The VIPs had just opened in America. Burton put their joint address simply as “Switzerland”, the home that his wife Sybil had recently abandoned. Other film star couples included Mary Pickford (20 June 1955) from “Beverly Hills, California” with her third husband, actor and jazz musician, Charles “Buddy” Rogers; Michael Redgrave (4 July 1951) with his wife Rachel Kempson, who signed herself as “Rachel Redgrave”; and Moira Shearer (25 April 1953) who at the time was much better- known than her husband Ludovic Kennedy; and Ann Todd (9 May 1953) who had recently made The Sound Barrier with her new husband, director David Lean. She signed herself Ann Todd Lean and was in fact the third of six Mrs Leans. The couple divorced in 1957. Stars staying on their own included Claudette Colbert (18 May 1952); Vivien Leigh (20 July 1955); Rod Steiger (24 November 1959); and Paul Robeson three days later. Both Vivien Leigh and Paul Robeson were taking a break from rehearsals at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford. For both stars, Stratford was personally very important. Leigh was struggling with depression and appearing with her husband Laurence Olivier in a production of Twelfth Night. It was directed by John Gielgud, who noted in his diary that “her little ladyship..is brainier than he but not a born actress. He dares too confidently... but she hardly dares at all and is terrified of overreaching her technique and doing anything that she has not killed the spontaneity of by overpractice”. In August 1966 Cary Grant stayed at The Lygon Arms just after the release of his final film Walk Don’t Run. His only child, Jennifer, had been born six months earlier and Grant gave the desire not to miss out on her childhood as one of the reasons for his retirement. The guest book does not record whether Jennifer and her mother Dyan Cannon were travelling with him. The hotel’s guest book is still in use and lists not just actors and movie stars, but politicians, prime ministers and even Prince Philip on its pages. From James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to Captain Kirk (William Shatner and family) everyone stays at The Lygon Arms. The Lygon Arms, High Street, Broadway, WR12 7DU T: 01386 852255 [email protected] www.lygonarmshotel.co.uk THE HISTORY OF THE LYGON ARMS