Extracts from Email of the Month for October and November 2004

Hollywood Jesus Lord of the Rings Forum

The fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the completed Lord of the Rings saga is hard upon us, and while time has been kind to Tolkien's novel, time is wearing hard on many of the sites associated with Tolkien's personal history.

Andrew Townsend, who has been a featured correspondent in this column, recently brought my attention to the plight of one of these sites:

“While we were in Dorset, I went to look at the Three Cups hotel in Lyme Regis where Tolkien stayed on a number of occasions [vacationing as a youth with his brother Hilary and Father Francis]. Sadly, it has fallen into disuse. I have emailed the Tolkien society and been advised that the matter will be passed on to the committee! I'll let you know what they come up with. I would like to suggest that you and your Tolkien contacts write in protest but I can't find a website where you can do so.

Thankfully, the building is "Listed" which means that it would be illegal to demolish it, and a change of use would require planning permission. However, there are several areas of concern to Tolkien fans:

• the building will deteriorate while not in use and is in danger of vandalism
• the owner may delay its return to use unduly saying they are waiting for coastal defenses to be upgraded
• the owner may seek a change of use which would deny access to the general public
• in its current state the public cannot enjoy visiting a site of great historical and cultural interest

(Notwithstanding all that, for the people of Lyme Regis the building looks very sad in its current state and detracts from the beauty of the town, rather like one of the empty houses in the winding streets of Minas Tirith.)

In addition to the Tolkien connection, the hotel was featured in the film The French Lieutenant's Woman and, prior to 1844 when it was on the site of the Sanctuary Bookshop, was mentioned in one of Jane Austen's novels.

Why is this at all important? Humphrey Carpenter suggests in Tolkien's biography that the Dorset countryside provided at least some of the landscape for Middle-earth. I would like to think that the Shire is a mixture of Dorset, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Lancashire.”

Hollywood Jesus, Andrew and the local press in Lyme Regis will be working with Bob Speer and others to bring a global focus to this preservation effort. Check back again as we add more information and links as the month progresses.

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Second newspaper article posted

This blog has now featured in two articles in the Bridport & Lyme Regis News, both of which can be accessed using the links in the left-hand column.

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What do you think should happen? By Andrew Townsend

If the Three Cups Hotel is to be preserved so that its interior can be enjoyed the public and if it is to become part of the lives of the people of Dorset again, then ideas are needed for a new use for the building or new ways to revive its original use. I want to air some views in this posting to promote discussion and hopefully generate ideas.

When I was on holiday in Lyme Regis in August, I was hoping that I could have visited the Three Cups with my family for morning coffee or afternoon tea to enjoy an old fashioned hotel, full of character, charm and a sense of history. Sadly, no one can enjoy the hospitality of this venerable hostelry now.

I would like to see the building back in business as a hotel with a restaurant, bar and public meeting rooms. I know that this would be difficult given the lack of en suite rooms and difficult trading conditions for hotels in Lyme Regis recently but I am optimistic that if its cultural heritage can be exploited then a market could be created for a very special place to stay. I would hope that it would become a place for local people to meet as well, for societies and family occasions. I can’t help thinking of the Three Tuns in Durham as a model for such a hotel.

It has to be recognised that there are other ideas being considered. The owners want to turn it into private flats. A Jurassic Coast Visitor Centre has been suggested, possibly in conjunction with flats. Perhaps a visitor centre could include a café or restaurant and open up most of the ground floor.

Could the National Trust make use of the building? I don’t know. Could the Youth Hostel Association run it to provide accommodation for visitors? If this could help walkers on the coastal path, then that would be in keeping with Tolkien’s love of the Dorset countryside.

Do you have any other proposals? Please post your comments anyway.

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“Fears for the Tolkien Hotel” by Sarah Thompson

Bridport & Lyme Regis News, Friday 12th November 2004

A member of the Tolkien Society has set up an internet campaign to save the Three Cups Hotel in Lyme Regis - once a favourite holiday destination of the Hobbit author, JRR Tolkien.

Andrew Townsend from Manchester has created a `blog spot' on the web at www.savethe3cups.info where anyone concerned about the future of the derelict listed building can post their views.

Tolkien fan Mr Townsend visited Lyme Regis recently and was horrified by the extended closure of the hotel where Tolkien holidayed as a child and then later with his own family. In August 1906 a 14yearold Tolkien painted a picture entitled `Lyme Regis Harbour from the Drawing Room Window of the Cups Hotel'.

Andrew Townsend said: "I went to look at the Three Cups Hotel because I had read that Tolkien stayed there several times. "I was sad to find that it is now empty. I would really like to see the building returned to its traditional use as a hotel so that anyone could visit it and take in the atmosphere and history of the place."

The blog has a link to the Tolkien Society's website and already people from all over the world are posting their concerns. Lyme Regis Society chairman Bernard Spencer has written: "There is nothing else that causes as much adverse comment from the people of Lyme Regis than the sight of the Three Cups standing empty and deteriorating daily.

"The Lyme Regis Society has suggested to Palmers Brewery and to Dorset County Council that the ground floor would make a perfect, and much needed, Jurassic Coast Visitors Centre. "Palmers want to convert the upper floors into flats, but if they can't be turned to public use, they would be better used accommodating visitors to our World Heritage Coast."

Mr Spencer said Palmers Brewery was not prepared to discuss plans for the hotel until seafront stabilisation work is completed, but this might not be until 2006/2007. Why, asks Mr Spencer, couldn't the building be opened temporarily with adequate restoration work carried out to ensure its future? He said: "The Lyme Regis Society fears that if restoration work is delayed too long, Palmers may have to consider demolition."

The Sanctuary Bookshop in Broad Street has also set up a notice board about the Three Cups and a petition in the shop has been signed by almost 300 people, many of them from outside the town. Palmers brewery owns the hotel, which has now stood empty for 14 years. They declined to speak to the News this week.

Their commercial property manager Nigel Jones, of Humberts in Yeovil, said the hotel was not for sale and that Palmers would not do anything at the property until stabilisation works in Lyme Regis - due to start next April - were complete. He said the district council had stopped them doing anything.

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From Bernard Spencer, Chairman of the Lyme Regis Society

This empty hotel, standing in the main street of Lyme Regis, has been the subject of news reports recently when it was discovered that Professor Tolkien had visited the hotel several times and painted a picture of the harbour from one of its windows. Visitor, Andrew Townsend, expressed astonishment that the hotel - one of the best in its day - has been left standing empty since 1990 by its owners, Palmers Brewery of Bridport.

Andrew is far from alone in this view. There is nothing else that causes as much adverse comment from the people of Lyme Regis than the sight of the Three Cups standing empty and deteriorating daily.

The Lyme Regis Society has suggested to Palmers Brewery and to Dorset Council that the ground floor would make a perfect, and much needed, Jurassic Coast Visitors Centre.

Palmers want to convert the upper floors into flats, but, if they can't be turned to public use, they would be better used accommodating visitors to our World Heritage Coast.

What could be done with the Three Cups? Well! apart from a Jurassic Coast Visitors Centre on the ground floor, it could also be home to the Lyme Regis Tourist Office. If the whole building came into public use, there would be room for an Arts Centre, Conference Rooms, Museum Research Rooms and perhaps the Dark Skies Society could make use of the upper floor for study. Light pollution at night is low in Lyme Regis.

The Lyme Regis Society has a particular interest in bringing this fine building back into use because the Society was formed there in 1934 when townspeople were concerned at the number of old buildings being cleared away to make holiday homes for wealthy people. Miss Bridget Lutyens, niece of the famous architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, was the first Secretary of the fledgling Conservation Society.

But the present Three Cups has connections much older than that for it replaced an earlier Three Cups that was owned by Thomas Hollis, a great friend and benefactor of Lyme Regis who was also an early benefactor of Harvard University. Thomas Hollis is commemorated by Harvard with their Harvard On Line Library Information System. Perhaps one day a modern Thomas Hollis will save the Three Cups for the townspeople of Lyme Regis.

Local artist, Hugh Dunsford-Wood, describes the ex hotel as the "flower of Lyme Regis" and goes on to say "They (Palmers) are stealing the main organ of hospitality from the people."

John Palmer, of Palmers Brewery has been quoted in the press as not being prepared to discuss plans for the hotel until seafront stabilisation work is completed, but this might not be until 2006/2007; why can't the building be opened temporarily with adequate restoration work carried out to ensure its future? The Lyme Regis Society fears that if restoration work is delayed too long, Palmers may have to consider demolition.

Now that we have learnt of the importance of the Three Cups in connection with Tolkien, we are even more determined to try to bring this fine building back into public use. The day this happens there will be celebrations all over Lyme Regis and no doubt champagne corks will be popping. Certainly, it would help if members of the Tolkien Society expressed support for our aims."

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