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The Swan Hotel

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The Swan Hotel was built by the Duke of Bedford in 1794-96, the architect was Henry Holland a well known London architect who was responsible for the renovations at Woburn Abbey. The building replaced an earlier Swan Inn, which stood closer to the High Street. The building originally had two flanking gates but the right hand gate was removed in the 1880s for The Embankment, which only came into being when a road was cut through the Swan Hotel gardens, requiring the removal of the gate. The Swan Hotel was at the hub of the coaching network of routes. The 1785 Bedfordshire directory lists a coach leaving The Swan Hotel for London on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with returns on the intermediate days, fares 12s and 6s and 6p. The 1827 Bedfordshire Directory lists several coaches stopping on route to London daily during the week at The Swan Hotel including The Royal Mail.  The Bedford Times Coach made its last journey to London from the Swan Hotel on Saturday 22nd November 1846 just as the railway between Bedford-Bletchley opened.

The South African War Memorial, which stands in front of The Swan Hotel, was unveiled on the 2nd June 1904 by Lady  Cowper the wife of the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire. The bronze statue of an infantry soldier in marching order was designed by Chevalier and commemorates the Bedfordshire men who died in the Boer War.

Sources:

• FARRAR, V.  Bedford 50 Years Ago: The architecture of a county town.2007
• Newspaper Cuttings Collection, Local Studies Library, Bedford Central Library

The Swan Hotel Bedford, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2009

Page last updated: 22nd January 2014