Scarborough Daily News
Landslide Sends Hotel Downhill
Residents at Holbeck Hall were in for a
shaky awakening on a sunny June
morning as the hill that the hotel was
built on collapsed, taking the hotel, which
was built by local entrepreneur, George
Alderson Smith in 1879, along with it.
Building on a hill has its perks – lovely
views, stunning scenery and plenty of
wind. Unfortunately, for the old Holbeck
Hall, which can house over one hundred
people, those perks were overlooked on
June 6th, 1993, as the ground of the hill
had collapsed under the whole of the
seaward wing of the hotel, taking that
area with it, straight into the sea.
“It was actually on the 4th of June when
the drama really started,” states Georgia
Cooper, general manager of Holbeck Hall.
“The rose garden and most of the front
lawn was gone and there were cracks all
over the walls, so we evacuated all of the
guests as fast as possible. About 60
metres of cliff had just disappeared
overnight.”
“We were just enjoying our breakfast in
the dining room when we were told we
had an hour to pack up and evacuate.”
Kelly Bernard tells Scarborough Daily
News. “We were told the hotel could
collapse at any minute – my children were
crying. It wasn’t a good experience.”
Kelly Bernard was only one of the few
scared and worried guests at the hotel
that morning. “Many people were
scrambling around the hotel, and the staff
was having a hard time calming them
down. We were calm compared to some
of the people that were there!”
Ms. Cooper stated that the reason for the
landslide was caused by the dry summer
the year before, which provided exposed
cracks in the cliff. “We knew it would
eventually happen, and we had shut down
the hotel a few months before. When
nothing happened, we figured we should
open it up again. That was in mid April.”
The coastline of the cliff was eroded,
which also helped lead to the landslide.
From late 1992 to 1993, heavy rain was
common, and the water had seeped into
the cracks and held in sand and gravel.
This increased the weight of the hill. The
clay in the hill eventually slipped down
along the sand and gravel layers.
On the 29th of July, the rest of the hotel
was demolished, and an estimated 1
million tonnes of materials were washed
onto the beach. In November, a wall of
boulders was built at the base of the
landslide. 20,000 tonnes of granite was
shipped from Norway to provide stability.
The whole project cost two million
pounds, and was funded and designed by
Rendel Geotechnics.
It’s now 2000, and a legal battle with a
two million pound damage claim, brought
by the insurers of the hotel, is resolved,
and the Scarborough Council is cleared of
Scarborough Daily News
Landslide Sends Hotel Downhill
being responsible for the cliff collapse and
the hotel loss.