hotel industry hotel and hospitality founded 1849 headquarters isles of scilly number of employees 20 website www.tregarthens hotel.co.uk tregarthen s hotel is a hotel in hugh town on st. mary s in the isles of scilly . tregarthen s was the very first hotel to be established on the isles of scilly having been founded in 1849 by captain frank tregarthen who ran the packet ship delivering mail provisions and visitors between penzance and the isles of scilly . contents 1 history 2 famous visitors 3 ownership 4 gig racing 5 external links 6 references history edit up until the mid nineteenth century there was no regular transport between the isles of scilly and the mainland uk . then in 1849 the locals on scilly decided to resolve this situation and provide a sloop as a connecting link with the mainland . there was great local excitement when this sailing packet named ariadne was first brought to the islands by its skipper captain frank tregarthen . 1 between 1849 and 1858 with his three daughters captain frank tregarthen opened up his family house at the foot of the garrison hill to paying guests . captain frank would load up the boat with mail provisions and adventurous passengers in penzance and bring them to his house for their stay on the islands . thus tregarthen s hotel was established the very first hotel on the isles of scilly . 2 visitors to scilly were few and far between . no one ever thought of going to the islands for pleasure and those whose business called them there were only too anxious to get away on the first favourable opportunity . but here was the rub . captain frank kept the only hotel and was in this peculiar position his guests could not possibly get away until he chose to take them . he usually counted heads before leaving penzance and laid in a stock of provisions accordingly . his customers were rounded up like sheep in a south american corral and there were no means of escape unless one swam across . there you were willy nilly and somehow or other the weather never pointed to set fair until all the provisions had been consumed and to avoid semi starvation it was necessary to go back to the mainland to replenish the larder . 3 tourism on scilly started in earnest once the cornwall railway link from penzance to london was completed in 1859 . 4 the steamer the little western took the place of the ariadne and for the first time visitors could make the crossing from penzance in only four hours considerably faster than the cutter ariadne which could take a day or two . the little western was the isles of scilly s first steam packet boat and made around three voyages from scilly to penzance and back each week . 5 captain tregarthen was captain of the little western from 1859 1870 . the little western was a small ship and her crew consisted of only five hands captain mate engineer deck hand and stoker . despite the challenges and perils of the voyage she usually made good passage to the islands and was able to provide service all year round . 6 transferred to the west cornwall steam ship company in 1871 for the sum of 2 640 the little western was wrecked on the wells reef on 6 october 1872 attempting to give aid to a disabled brigantine . 7 the little western played a significant part in the history of the islands as well as the heritage of tregarthen s hotel . that is why the hotel s logo features an image of the little western and the terrace at the hotel is named the little western deck . during the first world war tregarthen s hotel was commandeered by the admiralty and acted as a ward room for officers who were billeted at the white house on the garrison . tregarthen s hotel was commissioned by the admiralty on june 1 1918 and surrendered on february 28 1919 . commander hw randall rnr was the senior officer . 8 the present day tregarthen s hotel has been built around the original living quarters of captain frank tregarthen 1 . famous visitors edit wilkie collins stayed at tregarthen s for one night in 1855 during a twelve day cruise of the scillies 2 . lord alfred tennyson wrote enoch arden during his stay at tregarthen s hotel in 1860 . this is celebrated with a plaque at the hotel 3 . in around 1903 the hotel hosted the infamous killer dr crippen and his wife cora aka the aspiring music hall performer belle elmore . indeed during his stay dr crippen safely delivered his boatman s wife s baby daughter 4 . prince charles visited tregarthen s hotel on two occasions for meetings with the duchy tenants association . his most recent visit to the islands with the duchess of cornwall was in august 2012 to see the new school which he helped design . 5 . hm the queen visited the hotel on 3 june 2011 where tregarthen s hotel hosted an official reception for ninety people 6 . ownership edit tregarthen s remained a family owned and run business until 15 february 1915 when a company was formed with a penzance estate agent wh lane followed by his son thurstan t lane as chairmen . the hotel remained in the same ownership for a century with wh lane s grandson jonathan lane becoming director in 1980 and then chairman . on 24th april 2015 tregarthen s hotel was sold to nigel and jackie wolstenholme for whom it is a first hotel venture . other business interests of nigel and jackie wolstenholme include the 25 acre somborne valley vineyard in hampshire . gig racing edit tregarthen s hotel supports the popular sport of cornish pilot gig racing . in 1999 the hotel donated a pilot gig called tregarthen s to the isles of scilly rowing association to celebrate the hotel s 150th anniversary . the hotel donated and launched a second gig to the association in 2012 during the world pilot gig championships which are held annually on the first bank holiday each may since 1989 . external links edit www.tregarthens hotel.co.uk references edit scilly and the scillonians by jg uren . uk rare books club 1907 page 95 . isbn 978 115259621 4 scilly and the scillonians by jg uren . uk rare books club 1907 page 58 . isbn 978 115259621 4 scilly and the scillonians by jg uren . uk rare books club . 1907 page 96 . isbn 978 115259621 4 inside the archipelago by roger banfield . isles of scilly museum p25 . isbn 978 095629032 8 scilly and the scillonians by jg uren . uk rare books club 1907 page 102 . isbn 978 115259621 4 scilly and the scillonians by jg uren . uk rare books club 1907 page 103 . isbn 978 115259621 4 the wrecks of scilly by richard larn . shipwreck and marine 2001 pages 120 121 . isbn 978 095239719 9 isles of scilly museum . tregarthen s visitor book . 1897 1937 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title tregarthen % 27s hotel & oldid 662927653 categories buildings and structures in the isles of scillyhidden categories cornwall articles missing geocoordinate dataall articles needing coordinates navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search 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