The Talbot was said to be constructed in the 1600s as a hunting lodge. It wasn’t until 1740 that it became an inn. When entering Malton from the direction of York, the building provides an imposing, unmissable entrance. Over the years it was the natural home for meetings and dinners of local clubs, societies and organisations from the town and beyond, including formal inquests and bankruptcy hearings. The ‘True Blue’ – the coach from Leeds to Scarborough – stopped here, as did the mail coach.
The Talbot Hotel was in early Victorian times known as ‘Kimberleys Hotel’. Mr. Benjamin Kimberley died in November 1832 but his wife Mary continued to run the business. She placed notices in the Yorkshire Gazette in the summer of 1833:
MARY KIMBERLEY TALBOT HOTEL AND POSTING HOUSE, MALTON, RESPECTIVELY begs to return her sincere thanks to the Nobility, Gentry and Commercial Gentlemen, for the patronage bestowed by them upon the above Concern during the life-time of her Husband; and as it is her intention to continue the above extensive Establishment, she earnestly solicits a continuance of their support, assuring them that every exertion on her part shall be used to deserve it, by moderate charges, excellent wines, and superior accommodation of every description, the house and Grounds generally calling forth the unqualified approbation of every Visitor. COACHES – the TRUE BLUE and ROYAL MAIL every Day to and from Scarbro’; WHITBY COACH every other Day. Talbot Hotel, Malton, June 1833
Mrs Kimberley took a further advertisement in 1838 to make the announcement that she had taken the inn at Barton Hill “where Post Horses will always be kept in future; an arrangement which she trusts will be satisfactory to her Friends and the Public in general as it will be the means of dividing the distance between York and Scarbro’ into four easy Stages, the length of the old Stages being generally objected to.”
Read more in our History book – coming soon
