General Discussion
Great Cliff Hotel
When I was on holiday in Dawlish last July I read in the Dawlish gazette about a planning application to demolish the Great Cliff hotel in Marine Parade and replace it with a 3 storey building.Did this application ever get approval? Also, am I right in saying that the Great Cliff hotel was built and owned by the GWR in the early years of the railway and was used and lived in by governers of the GWR? Perhaps any 150 year olds in the area might know the answer to that.If this is true the building must have some historic value?
Something has certainly been demolished and apartments are being built. I can't remember what was there previously! I expect it WAS the Great Cliff Hotel. Don't expect anyone in Dawlish to kick up about it though - the most apathetic place I have ever lived in.
Though if it was listed Private Eye might be interested.
the great cliff hotel (as was formerly known before becoming a nursing home) was buldozed due to a sever conditon called subsidance, in addition there was sever internal damage from ingress of water. the building was delisted OFFICIALY by english heratige on these grounds after a survey carried out by there own people.
You might be interested to read the following extract taken from the web site at www.greatcliff.co.uk which makes reference to the Great Cliff Hotel:-
"Marine Parade was originally home to an early fishing settlement. Many of the original houses which existed back in the mid 1840's were temporarily bought by the South Devon Railway in order to reduce opposition to the construction of the railway. As it was, the line had to be somewhat lower than present, on a gradient of 1:30 from the station in order to protect the residents' sea views (the line is now on a gradient of 1:96 through higher ballasting). Most, if not all of the fishing settlement disappeared in a bid to build elegant Victorian and Edwarian homes, from the late 1800's to the 1920's. One of the original buildings was the Baths, built in 1828 and substantially altered in 1895, to become a gentlemen's club and then a restaurant. This property is currently a B & B and restaurant, known as the "Oceans".
Some properties may have been built or converted into hotels such as the Great Cliff Hotel, which was run "under the personal supervision of resident proprietress Mrs F.L. Swift" in 1955, open all year, had hot and cold water in all bedrooms, gas fires in main bedrooms and interior sprung mattresses. The current Great Cliff property was built on the site of a nursing home, which may have been the Great Cliff Hotel beforehand. The building was probably the furthest of the Marine Parade's development until the 1880's and used for the SDR's Board Meetings for a few months in 1846. The property may also have been the resisdence of Joseph Samuda in 1844/8, who was the patenteee of the atmospheric system and who came to Dawlish to supervise its working on the SDR.
Although many fine houses were built in Dawlish, Marine Parade was definately the place to live with elegant properties, sea views and, from 1902, a new sea wall and promenade adjacent to the railway and Marine Parade. The Dawlish Gazette suggested that this be known as "The Kings Walk" to comemorate the the coronation of Edward VII - a name which is still heard of today. Traditionally, this was the area where gentlemen and ladies would take the sea air, before retiring for the night."
none of you seem to know much about how the end of great cliff affected people. i worked there for the last one and a half years and its was a retirement home and it was well run and full of nice satff who all had to find new jobs within a few weeks and as for the residents about 90% of them were born and bred here and as soon as great cliff found out it was going to close they had to find homes for 40 residents and not many of them were lucky to stay in dawlish and even less survied the move as it is alot for the ederly to take!