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The Doyleston Railway Hotel
Description
TitleThe Doyleston Railway Hotel
DescriptionIn 1875 the Ellesmere Licensing Court granted the application of James Blackler, Jun. for a hotel license.
The application included a plan of the building, a requisition containing signatures of most of the influential men of the place, and pointed out the urgent necessity for accommodation in the immediate vicinity of the railway.
The Court stipulated that the hotel be built on the corner section opposite the railway or the adjoining section and that the erection of the stables should be proceeded with at once.
The one-acre section Blackler bought from John Lambie, Jun. in 1875 was on the corner of Blacklers Road, (now Drain Road), and Railway Terrace.
The probable reasons that the Bench granted Blackler’s application were that they did not wish to encourage roadside public houses which only tended to encourage the already excessive drinking habits of the district, and it would provide the necessary accommodation for railway passengers as the line had been opened to Doyleston in 1875.
The Commissioners who sat on the Bench were E.J. Lee, E. Jollie, and C.J. Bridge.
In April 1876 Blackler’s stables caught fire and in spite of the efforts of the Stationmaster, Mr. Crowe, the whole building and 300 bushels of oats were burnt.
In February 1878, W.J.G. Bluett, now a land and estate agent, reported he had sold the Doyleston hotel for £3,100.
The buyer was Arthur Devery and the license was transferred from Blackler to Mrs. Devery.
The following year James Knox Grant bought the hotel. It was sold again in 1880 to William James who was the owner for the next twenty years.
He leased the hotel to Alfred Ernest Fuller in 1890, to Henry Lagan for a short period in 1899, and in the same year to William Henry Ryan.
Ryan bought the hotel in 1900 and there were frequent changes of ownership in the next fifteen years.
The owners were Martin Bergin (1901), Frank William Wright (1903), Arthur William Hills (1907), and James Jarden (1909).
Jarden leased it to Frederick Charles Hack (1911) and Thomas Toner (1913) before selling it to Michael Riordan in 1916.
John Griffin, a Christchurch Hotelkeeper, bought the hotel in 1930 and immediately leased it to William Charles Beamsley.
There were incidents of underage drinking, sly grogging, fighting, and drunkenness and, on occasions, the annual license renewal was withheld for a time while the publican ‘put his house in order’.
Even so, the hotel was well patronized for accommodation by traveling representatives of firms like Beaths during the early 1900s.
Roy William Jackman, a grandson of J.H. Doyle, took over the lease in 1936 and held it for 32 years until it closed.
After a memorable district farewell, the hotel closed on 29 June 1968 and was subsequently pulled down.
Material from Lyttelton Times, The Press, National Archives, Land Information NZ and G Singleton, Ellesmere The Jewel in the Canterbury Crown, 2007
Mike Noonan
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date15 January 2020SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDoyleston
DescriptionIn 1875 the Ellesmere Licensing Court granted the application of James Blackler, Jun. for a hotel license. The application included a plan of the building, a requisition containing signatures of most of the influential men of the place, and pointed out the urgent necessity for accommodation in the immediate vicinity of the railway.
The Court stipulated that the hotel be built on the corner section opposite the railway or the adjoining section and that the erection of the stables should be proceeded with at once.
The one-acre section Blackler bought from John Lambie, Jun. in 1875 was on the corner of Blacklers Road, (now Drain Road), and Railway Terrace.
The probable reasons that the Bench granted Blackler’s application were that they did not wish to encourage roadside public houses which only tended to encourage the already excessive drinking habits of the district, and it would provide the necessary accommodation for railway passengers as the line had been opened to Doyleston in 1875.
The Commissioners who sat on the Bench were E.J. Lee, E. Jollie, and C.J. Bridge.
In April 1876 Blackler’s stables caught fire and in spite of the efforts of the Stationmaster, Mr. Crowe, the whole building and 300 bushels of oats were burnt.
In February 1878, W.J.G. Bluett, now a land and estate agent, reported he had sold the Doyleston hotel for £3,100.
The buyer was Arthur Devery and the license was transferred from Blackler to Mrs. Devery.
The following year James Knox Grant bought the hotel. It was sold again in 1880 to William James who was the owner for the next twenty years.
He leased the hotel to Alfred Ernest Fuller in 1890, to Henry Lagan for a short period in 1899, and in the same year to William Henry Ryan.
Ryan bought the hotel in 1900 and there were frequent changes of ownership in the next fifteen years.
The owners were Martin Bergin (1901), Frank William Wright (1903), Arthur William Hills (1907), and James Jarden (1909).
Jarden leased it to Frederick Charles Hack (1911) and Thomas Toner (1913) before selling it to Michael Riordan in 1916.
John Griffin, a Christchurch Hotelkeeper, bought the hotel in 1930 and immediately leased it to William Charles Beamsley.
There were incidents of underage drinking, sly grogging, fighting, and drunkenness and, on occasions, the annual license renewal was withheld for a time while the publican ‘put his house in order’.
Even so, the hotel was well patronized for accommodation by traveling representatives of firms like Beaths during the early 1900s.
Roy William Jackman, a grandson of J.H. Doyle, took over the lease in 1936 and held it for 32 years until it closed.
After a memorable district farewell, the hotel closed on 29 June 1968 and was subsequently pulled down.
Material from Lyttelton Times, The Press, National Archives, Land Information NZ and G Singleton, Ellesmere The Jewel in the Canterbury Crown, 2007
Mike Noonan
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date15 January 2020SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDoylestonClick on the image to add
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The Doyleston Railway Hotel (15 January 2020). Selwyn Stories, accessed 15/06/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5288