Bell Hotel and Bellside

The Bell Hotel was built in the 16th century. It was a coaching inn until about 1848 and then the home of the village doctor, before becoming a hotel again 50 years ago. The older photograph shows The Bell Hotel when it was the doctor’s house, probably in the 1940s-1950s.

Like every other house in the village in the 1800s, the Bell Inn was owned by the Tylney-Long-Wellesley family of Draycot House. The High Street used to be the main road from Bath and Bristol to Oxford. Coaches, as seen on the left of this 1960s photo, would stop here to change horses and for passengers to have a rest. There were fewer coaches on the road after the railway arrived in the 1840s.

In 1848 The Bell Inn became the home of the village doctor for over 100 years. The surgery door was in Bellside, and is still visible in the brickwork / paint on the side of the building. The last doctor to live here was Dr Clarke, who sold the property in 1955 to Berni Inns, who reopened it in 1958 as a hotel.