Berry Head House
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Berry Head House (now used as the Berry Head Hotel) is a large detached house in Brixham, England. It is listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England.[1]
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The building was originally built in 1809 by the Board of Ordinance as a military hospital in support of the three Napoleonic war forts on Berry Head.[2]
Later it became the home of the hymnist and poet Henry Francis Lyte who turned the building into a country house and bought the surrounding lands.[3][unreliable source?]
Library
In the ground of the property, Lyte wrote the words to the Hymn "Abide with Me" and "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven". Lyte built up a library in the house which was described as "one of the most valuable libraries in the Southwest of England".[4] The library took 17 days of auctions to sell in London.[5]