The Hotel was founded in 1254 as the 'Fox and Hounds', and parts of the present buildings date back to the 16th century. The land on which the hotel stands was a detached part of the medieval Manor of Thorncroft and was held in the mid-thirteenth century by Walter de Merton, the founder of Merton College, Oxford University. The main building, adjoining Old London Road, dates from the early nineteenth century. In 1882 the hotel became the 'Hare & Hounds', and was commonly known as the Burford Bridge. In 1905, Surrey Public Trust purchased it from Sir Trevor Lawrence, and it changed permanently to the Burford Bridge Hotel, later merging with Trusthouses in 1948. A 16th century mediaeval tithe barn from the nearby village of Abinger Hammer was re-erected adjoining the hotel in 1934 and now forms the core of the banqueting suite. The barn is alleged to include beams from ships of the Spanish Armada. An outdoor swimming pool was added in the same decade and the changing rooms have been restored to their original 1930s appearance. The Garden Bedrooms were built in 1973 and adjoin the main hotel. The hotel was flooded on 24 December 2013 when the River Mole burst its banks after heavy rainfall. Nine members of staff and 27 guests were evacuated by boat. The hotel was reopened on 1 September 2014 following renovation.
Notable Guests
After leaving London, John Keats took a room overlooking the gardens, and completed his epic poem Endymion there in 1819. Other prominent visitors included Queen Victoria, Jane Austen, Wordsworth, Sheridan and Robert Louis Stevenson. It was here too that Lord Nelson spent secret hours with his love Emma Hamilton, before going to vanquish Napoleon's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. The American businessman, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, visited the hotel frequently in the 1890s, stopping to take lunch and to collect telegrams. He and a number of other millionaires, including James Hazen Hyde, practised the old English coaching techniques of the early 19th century for sport. Vanderbilt would frequently drive the coach, perfectly apparelled as a coachman or groom. His party would take a one-day, two-day, or longer trip along chosen routes through several counties, going to prearranged inns and hotels along the routes, of which the Burford Bridge was one.
