In a town packed with character properties, one house on Wales' most famous seafront can boast some amazing added extras. The Albion, a pale yellow Georgian house nestled into the corner of one of Tenby's most recognisable streets, comes with secret doors, a reported smugglers' tunnel, and the freehold of an adjoining apartment used by a charity for disabled children.
History of The Albion
Listed Grade II by Cadw in 1977 as 'a prominent late Georgian building overlooking the harbour', The Albion and its neighbour 'Little Albion' date back to pre-1817. The larger property was called The Albion Inn in 1849 and is said to have had two separate entrances to keep rival fishermen apart – one at the harbour front and one at the rear on Castle Hill. The listing also mentions a smugglers' tunnel and a vaulted basement within the building's footprint.
Current owner Alan, who bought the building 14 years ago with his wife, added: "When the building was The Albion Hotel, the smart ladies and guests in their smart dresses and clothes in the early 1900s used to come along, sometimes off the paddle steamer, and they would go into the top floor, where there was a bar, and reception, and so on."
Surprising discoveries
When Alan and his wife applied for planning permission to convert the double-vaulted basement storeroom, an architectural survey uncovered layers of history. Alan said: "The officer for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority said, 'I'll give you a green light on that, because you're bringing some history back, most of my clients are trying to wreck it!'. The architectural survey did an investigation and found that the two vaults within the cellar go right back into the cliff, and the deepest part of them was originally medieval. In front of that is a Tudor section and then the added Georgian frontage."
The couple added two secret doors during conversion – one hidden behind a bookshelf, the other disguised as a cupboard. Alan explained: "When our family comes and stays, they can use the cottage and we've still got our private home, and when they're not, when our family's not there, we rent it out, but the tenants don't realise that they're actually joined by two secret doors."
The smugglers' tunnel
A storage door at the back of the shower cubicle in the main bedroom opens to reveal a brick tunnel. Alan said the tunnel was reported to be a smugglers' route running up to the back of the property on Castle Hill. He added: "But the tunnel was used, when it was a hotel, for delivering beer barrels and also coal for the bedroom fireplaces. Anyway, that tunnel was partly used in the conversion before we owned it. Part of that tunnel was converted into that bathroom - it explains the curved roof window which actually has a light well inside it."
Property package
The floorplan comprises a two-bedroom home plus a two-bedroom holiday let (Lower Albion). The property also includes the freehold of a three-bed apartment in the adjacent white cottage, which is leased to the Harriet Davis Trust, a charity that adapts homes for families with seriously disabled children. Alan said: "It's called Harriet's House because the original owners had a child who was seriously disabled who died when she was quite young. And the parents, they were called John and Kit Davis, set up this charity, and Kit got an MBE for it."
Alan and his wife decided to move to a more mobility-friendly home but stayed in the area. Alan said: "We thought it was wonderful living in Albion, by the harbour. We've owned it since 2012. We renovated it in 2013, and we moved in in 2014. It was a wonderful place to be, because it is not only an interesting property, it's in a very good location, not just because of the view, but because it really is part of the harbour community."
The property has a sunny patio at the front, dual parking permits (two for Pier Hill and Castle Square), and is for sale with vacant possession. Alan hopes a family will buy it: "We hope very much that a family, like we were, will buy it, because it's a family home. But it's also great for somebody who's just retiring because it's a project, as well as a house there is the modest task of managing the three freeholds."
The Albion is on the market for £750,000 with West Wales Properties, Tenby (01834 845584).
