Bailiffscourt Hotel

Image: © Rob Farrow Taken: 13 Mar 2016

Bailiffscourt Hotel is situated next to the hamlet of Atherington south of the village of Climping, which itself is just to the west of Littlehampton. The hotel comprises a number of unusual buildings clustered around the main "Manor House". This apparently mediaeval building - the southern side of which is seen in this photo - is however not quite what it seems. Although it could fool almost anyone as being genuinely hundreds of years old, it was in fact built as recently as 1927 for Lord Moyne, one of the Guinness family of brewers. It was designed and built by the antiquarian and amateur architect Amyas Phillips who scoured the country to salvage items for use in its construction, while Evelyn, Lady Moyne designed much of the interior, furnishing it with genuine antiques and tapestries. Building work was complete by 1933, but sadly Lady Moyne died just six years later. Lord Moyne became Resident Minister in the Middle East, and was assassinated in Egypt in 1944. The building became a hotel in 1948. You can read a fuller history of the property here (pdf) http://www.hshotels.co.uk/public/downloads/bailiffscourt-hotel/bailiffscourt-hotel-history.pdf The EH Grade II* listing https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1027676 also gives information about its construction. The hotel's own website here http://www.hshotels.co.uk/bailiffscourt-hotel-and-spa#a-brief-history-of-bailiffscourt

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