Eastgate Hotel facts for kids
| Mercure Eastgate Hotel | |
Quick facts for kids  The Eastgate Hotel from the High Street in Oxford |
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| Hotel facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | 73 High Street Oxford, England OX1 4BE |
| Coordinates | 51°45′08″N 1°14′58″W / 51.75224°N 1.24940°W |
| Opening date | 1900 |
| Architect | E.P. Warren |
| Owner | Mercure |
| No. of rooms | 64 |
The Mercure Eastgate Hotel is a cool place to stay in the famous university city of Oxford, England. People sometimes call it The Eastgate. You can find it on the south side of Oxford's busy High Street. It's close to important university buildings like the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art and the Examination Schools of Oxford University.
A Look Back: The Hotel's Story
This hotel has a long history! It used to be an old inn called the Crosse Sword. The building itself was once a 17th-century coaching inn. A coaching inn was like a motel for horse-drawn coaches and their passengers. Travelers would stop there to rest and change horses.
The hotel is located right where Oxford's old town wall used to have its east gate. In 1899 and 1900, an architect named Edward Prioleau Warren changed the building into the hotel we see today. He made it look like other 18th-century buildings in Oxford.
Spooky Stories: Ghosts of the Past?
Some people say the Eastgate Hotel is haunted! Ross Andrews, who writes about local legends, has heard stories. People report hearing men in armor. They also claim to see Royalist soldiers from the English Civil War walking through walls. The English Civil War was a big fight in England's history during the 1600s.
These spooky sightings might be because the hotel is built on the site of the old east gate. Maybe the ghosts are still trying to pass through the old gate!
Famous Mentions: Books and Poems
The Eastgate Hotel has even appeared in books and poems!
The writer C.S. Lewis, famous for The Chronicles of Narnia, is linked to the Eastgate. It's mentioned in a book called A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken.
A well-known English poet, John Betjeman (1906–1984), also wrote about the Eastgate in his poetry:
Then, with a loosely knotted shantung tie
And hair well soaked in Delhez' Genêt d'Or
Strolled to the Eastgate. Oxford marmalade
And a thin volume of Lowes Dickinson
This poem paints a picture of someone enjoying breakfast at the Eastgate. They are having Oxford marmalade and reading a book by Lowes Dickinson.
