The Hotel Kynoch

Post Cards of this hotel at Hole Haven

I understand theĀ Hotel Kynoch was built in 1900 (see the sign on the east side) by the Kynoch Dynamite Company which had its complex the other side of Hole Haven Creek in Kynoch Town / Shellhaven. Today’s Kynoch Town is called Coryton and houses a large Oil Refinery.

Hotel Kynoch 1900 – View from the East on the Sea Wall

The Hotel was used by dignitories of the company and apparenlty had a ‘reputation’ including possible links to the ‘hell fire’ club! Apparently the Clock Tower never had arms but when it was demolished a mechanism was found in place. Local reporter Fred McCave announced in his Bulletin magazine in the 1980’s that he had discovered the reason for this but to protect the living didn’t say why. Did Fred take the secret to his grave or does anyone know why?

Access to the isolated Hotel was via Canvey Village and Haven Road, a track running below Brickhouse Farm along the Seawall to the Hotel. The Kynochs Hotel was sold to the Gas Company and used as an office until it was demolished to make way for the Gas site that is still there today.

I understand the loss of the licence meant the Monico HotelĀ gained her licence in the 1930’s but I need to confirm this as time permits.

A remnant of the Kynoch Hotel remains on the Island in the shape of a KYNOCH’S CLUB sign at Hartfield Parade in the High Street opposite the War Memorial Hall. Its connection with the Hotel is currently unknown. There are sections on this site dedicated to this club and building.

Comments about this page

  • Stan told me he believed the reason the clock had no arms may have been due to the War. Rumours may have circulated that the clock could be used to signal the enemy. The fact that the Hotel had a foriegn sounding name may have helped the suspicions.
    Has anyone else heard of this?

    By Stan Oaker (verbally to Dave Bullock) (23/05/2008)
  • Talking to my mum-in-law recently, I discovered that her grandfather, Edward Swift, had owned the Kynoch Hotel at one stage . Trying to narrow it down, she thought it was through the 1920’s when she was a child. He was a business man who owned a lot of hotels/pubs in Kent and the Kynoch seems like his only foray over the water to Essex. Apparently, he used to run a boat for visitors to get there. He died in 1933 and his estate was split between his 3 sons. No idea whether he still owned the hotel at this stage but it might tie in with the Monico getting its licence then.

    By Dee (18/09/2008)
  • My dad worked here when it was the offices of the London & Coastal Oil Co Ltd – this would have been in the late 1950s – I have a drawing somwhere which I drew when I was a youngster – I’ll have to dig it out …….

    By Steve (05/03/2011)
  • Interesting to hear that Edward SWIFT had owned the hotel as in 1921, this Property was actually called “SWIFT’S HOTEL”.

    By Martin Lepley (12/10/2017)
  • I think you will find it was still Kynoch Hotel. It is in Kelly’s Directory as such with Edward Hibbert Swift in 1922. Perhaps it was known as Swifts locally.

    By Janet Penn (13/10/2017)
  • I have an advert he put in the paper calling it “swift’s hotel (formally kynochs). By the end of the 1920s it had reverted back to its original name. I will email you the adverts over the weekend and you can add to this article if you like

    By Martin Lepley (13/10/2017)
  • Done a bit of digging about the SWIFT family and it would appear that they acquired Kynoch’s Hotel, Brick House Farm, and the Vicarage in 1919. In 1920 there appears to be some “additions” added to the Hotel (I don’t know what these were). They leave 1923 going to Bull Hotel, Wrotham

    By Martin Lepley (13/10/2017)
  • Hi Martin – Irene Swift, my mum-in-law, was born in 1919 at the Bull Hotel, Wrotham, one of her grandfather’s many licensed premises, as was her brother, Ted, two years previously in 1917 and later,in 1922, her sister Betty. From what Irene said, the family never lived at the Kynoch Hotel. I would be very interested to know where you found those details so I can add them to the family tree.

    By Dee Weightman (14/10/2017)

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