MEM23815 - Blackmoor Gate Hotel and Restaurant (Monument)

A fortnightly livestock auction was established at Blackmoor Gate in 1989, becoming one of the busiest auctions in North Devon, even though the nearest pub was over a mile and a half away. In 1917, a licence was granted to the landlord of the Fox and Goose at Parracombe to run a bar there on auction days. In 1930, the Blackmoor Gate Hotel and Restaurant opened. It was granted a hotel licence the following year but when the owner applied for a full licence in 1936, the landlord of the Fox and Goose engaged a barrister to oppose the application. It was granted and the hotel soon became popular with daytrippers and partygoers. The hotel burned down while being refurbished in 1970 and the area has not been redeveloped aside from a nearby car park. [1] The hotel complex can be seen on aerial photographs taken by the Royal Air Force in 1946-8. [2] The hotel is depicted and annotated on the 1963 6 inch Ordnance Survey map. [3] Blackmore Estate included Blackmore Gate. Henry Blackmore resisted the building of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway through his estate, petitioning against the act of parliament which gave approval to the route in 1895. As a result, the spelling of Blackmoor Gate was changed when the railway station was eventually built there. [4]