YHA’s network is hugely varied — and every hostel holds a story. There are converted warehouses, stately manors, farm cottages and even an old shepherd’s bothy. Here are four of our favourites.
YHA Port Eynon (Partner)
This seafront hostel, overlooking a sandy beach and the waters of Port-Eynon Bay on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, is a dreamy spot: you can actually fish from the outdoor tables at the back. Yet this very location – perfect for a youth hostel – underlies the true reason for the building’s existence. YHA Port Eynon used to be a lifeboat station.
The station first opened in 1884 in the same building the hostel now occupies. From it, the first lifeboat – a rowing boat called ‘A Daughter’s Offering’ – was launched using horse-drawn carriages. The crew of the boat are credited with saving 39 lives. Twenty-two years after its first use, the lifeboat was replaced with ‘Janet’, which saved 15 lives. However, on January 1, 1916, ‘Janet’ set out in a gale to rescue sailors from ‘SS Dunvegan’, which had run aground. On the return, the boat capsized twice with the loss of three men. Two are buried at Port Eynon’s church and Billy Gibbs, whose body was never recovered, has a statue in the same churchyard. YHA took over the building in 1950, and it’s been a hostel ever since. Today, YHA Port Eynon is a stylish retreat in an idyllic coastal village.
YHA Bristol
The docklands where YHA Bristol now sits would have looked unrecognisable even 20 years ago. Yes, the red-brick buildings and warehouses would have been similar, but today the area is lined with coffee shops and bars, shops and attractions, making it one of the buzziest parts of a very buzzy city. When YHA Bristol opened in 1989 as a modern hostel in a renovated grain warehouse, however, there were various derelict warehouses and nightclubs around it.
Opening a hostel here was a forward-thinking move, and a risk. According to YHA volunteer archivist, John Martin, £1 million was needed. There had been a hostel in Bristol since 1949 – first as a 74-bed property in a pair of semi-detached mansions, then in the 1980s as a seasonal hostel in a university hall of residence. For YHA, it was proof that there was a demand for affordable accommodation in cities other than those with obvious heritage appeal such as Canterbury, Oxford and Winchester. With support from the Department of Education, English Tourist Board and help from Bristol City Council, the renovation of the quayside building began.
Today YHA Bristol is a large, modern hostel with a cycle store and library. It’s close to some of Bristol’s top attractions, including SS Great Britain and M Shed Museum.
YHA Ilam Hall
YHA Ilam Hall has a history that offers an insight into British life over the past 1,000 years. The wonderfully named Wulfric Spott gave the land known as ‘Hilum’, now in Staffordshire, to the Benedictine Abbey of Burton on Trent in 1004. Records show that within 100 years there was a church and a mill. After Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1529, however, it was given to William Paget, principal secretary to the King, who promptly sold it to John Port. It was Port’s family who built the original Elizabethan manor and began to shape the estate, even diverting the River Manifold. In 1809, Ilam Hall was sold to Jesse Watts-Russell, who pulled down most of the existing building and built the one that stands today in the Victorian Gothic style. After the death of Watts-Russell in 1875, it changed hands several times, enjoyed a stint as a hotel and restaurant, and opened fully as a 100-bed hostel in 1934, then the largest in the country. Nowadays, YHA Ilam Hall retains its Victorian grandeur while sitting within 84 acres of National Trust land. It’s a 25-minute walk to Dovedale Stepping Stones.
YHA St Briavels Castle
We couldn’t write about historical hostels without including St Briavels, by some distance the oldest building in the network. Historians know that in the 1160s Henry II ordered the rebuilding of an existing castle, which served as the administrative centre of the strategically important Forest of Dean. Not only was it near the border of Wales but it was an important cog in the medieval iron industry, with crossbow bolts, among other weaponry, being made in the castle. These bolts were widely used by crossbow-wielding mercenaries employed by Henry’s son, King John (yes, the bad one) and subsequent monarchs. By the 15th century, however, the wars with Wales were no longer dominating the region and the castle lost its importance, becoming a prison. The castle was still being used as a prison until 1842. It became a hostel in 1948, and today feels, well, exactly like you’re staying in a 900-year-old castle. The fireplace, walls and ceiling beams are all original. You can even stay in King John’s bedchamber, which retains many of the features of when he used the castle as a hunting lodge in the 13th century. Bet the duvets weren’t so good back then, though.
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