My Homework

These posts are about Holbeck Hall Hotel and what happened in June 1993...

The signpost outside the hotel

On the third June 1993, a huge landslip occurred in the garden of Holbeck Hall Hotel.This was only the start of a disastrous and devastating occurrence.

Just a little insight to the hotel beforehand...
Holbeck Hall Hotel was a four star hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It was built as a home for Charles Anderson-Smith and his family in 1880. It was in a mock-Tudor style, with rose gardens and beautiful lawns between it and the edge of the cliff. In 1930 it became a hotel and the Turner family bought it out in 1980. A landslip occurred on the cliff below the hotel in 1982 and again in 1986.

Location of the hotel

No-one knows for sure how it happened, whether it was natural or a man-made disaster, but many people have their theories. Most people think that it was because the cliff had cracks in it and then the water got into the cracks. Eventually, the cracks in the cliff were filled with water and the cliff became to saturated. Then, because the cliff is clay, the clay became wet and lubricated. Because the cliff couldn't stay upright and together, the cliff collapsed and started sliding down to the beach bringing most of the hotel with it. Before the landslip, the hotel was just 50 metres away from the edge of the cliff and 24 hours later it was just slipping away onto the beach.

June 1993

"People came to see what had happened."

The effects it had were horrendous. Joan Turner, the owner, said,"The morning we were rung by our manager to say that the gardens had just disappeared was the first we knew about it. We felt that there was a lot of history in this building and to see it fall in front of our very eyes was just heart rendering." Other holiday makers said,"It was really sad, we had enjoyed coming here for several years. It was quite frightening really and we shed tears." Another person said,"I remember the big open fire and having coffee and cakes." Joan ran Holbeck Hall for more than twenty years with her husband, Barry, who died in 2003. Scarborough still brings tourists even though the landscape has changed a lot recently.

Joan Turner looking back at the damage

Fortunately, everyone was able to be evacuated before the hotel collapsed. There were no casualties and nobody died. However, the remains of the hotel were unsafe and so had to be demolished. In 1997, the turners tried to sue Scarborough Council for failing to protect the cliff from falling. Now, there is nothing left to be seen of the hotel, just a smooth grassy slope with a path on it...

The site of where the hotel was