Location : Carlisle
Map - Ordnance Survey - NY 403556

Court Square, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA1 1QY. Tel: 01228 531951
Next to the railway station

The Hallmark Hotel (formerly the Cumbrian, County, Lakes Court, and Station Hotels) is a stately railway hotel designed in 1852 by Anthony Salvin, a pupil of the eminent town planner John Nash. Having refurbished Windsor Castle, Salvin was considered to be a leading architect of his day. It was extended in 1866 by Cory and Ferguson.

The hotel was built for the arrival of Queen Victoria in Carlisle in 1853 on the way to Balmoral, and it had its own special entrance so her Majesty could walk straight from the railway carriage to the hotel. A special suite was incorporated in the hotel for the Queen. In 1890, William Gladstone addressed the people of Carlisle from an hotel window.

Thr building of the hotel was financed by George Head Head, mayor, magistrate, and banker of Carlisle. At the top of the hotel you can see the initials GHH and the date 1852. He owned Rickerby Hall which today stands in the public area called Rickerby Park. He is particularly noted for commissioning the large octagonal tower in the park.

Inside, the main rooms on the ground floor have elaborate ribbed plaster ceilings, and the ballroom which forms part of the 1866 restoration retains much of its original detail.

For more information about the hotel, which is licensed for civil weddings, see www.hallmarkhotels.co.uk/carlisle/.

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