Welsh Journals

estimated cost of £ 3,000. 31 It was hoped to lay the foundation stone in September for completion the following March. By the following June, however, work had evidently not begun because, when Chepstow Fire Brigade took possession of a fine new steam engine, they played water on the ruins as a demonstration for a crowd of onlookers.32 This delay may be explained by the death in November of the new owner and licensee, William Watkins.33 In 1898, the Chepstow Weekly Advertiser announced that a tender of £ 2,878, by Messrs. Knox and Wells, Cardiff, for rebuilding the George Hotel, had been accepted by Councillor R. Hughes, J.P. of Cardiff. The work was to be completed by the following June,34 and was in progress by January.35 In July, the new building was still not completed but interesting discoveries had been made during construction. Under the kitchen floor an old well was discovered and under another room a roomy arched cellar, perfectly dry, but empty was discovered."36 A subterranean passage was also revealed at the back near the Portwall which led in two directions"­-one presumably towards the river and the other towards the castle". 37 When investigated, it was found that the way was blocked by a roof fall and the tunnel was closed up without further investigation. The local paper suggested that it was probably used during the Civil War period and it may well have linked the George with the 'Gate House' in Margaret Cleyton's time. The hotel was expected to be opened on the August Bank Holiday 1899 and, while it is not clear if it was, in November the proprietor wrote to the Urban District Council requesting that a lamp immediately outside the hotel door should be moved and replaced by one fixed to the hotel wall. The Council agreed to this because the pillar was in a dangerous position.38 (see illustration on page 9). In December, the licence was transferred from Robert Hughes, the owner, to Alfred Henry Powell39 and, in March 1900, Mr. Powell and Mr. Pardoe, proprietors, announced that the George Hotel omnibus was Now running to the Railway Station, Meeting all Trains."40 During that year the George was the venue for a number of auctions, for a ball in November Mr. Cecil Hay's smoking concert in December at which he exhibited "Edison's Gramaphone and Phonograph which talks, sings and speaks",42 and for Hockey Club meetings. It was back in business but its role was to be a lesser one in the twentieth-century. The closing years of the nineteenth-century mark the end of the great days for the George Hotel. By 1900, its role in Chepstow life had greatly diminished. The George continued as a better-class small hotel in a small country town, but with a much reduced role as a social focus. Today the George Hotel is a Trust House Hotel. REFERENCES 1. WATERS, I. (1976) Inns & Taverns in Chepstow District, p. 6 2. WATERS, I. (1984) Margaret Cleyton, p. 10. Will of Margaret Cleyton held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.