Oscar Wilde suite rediscovered at fire-hit hotel

An archaeologist has rediscovered part of a hotel room where Oscar Wilde stayed in 1894 - a night that later formed part of his trial.

A statement from newspaper seller Alphonse Conway about his time with Wilde at the Royal Albion Hotel in Brighton was used as evidence of the writer's homosexuality, which was illegal at the time.

Wilde, whose literary works include The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, was convicted of "gross indecency" the following year.

A wall from the suite the pair stayed in has been uncovered at the hotel as restorations began following a 2023 fire.

Dr Michael Shapland of University College London's Archaeology South-East, identified the rooms using evidence from the building's walls, Wilde's testimony from the trial and a 1940s plan of the hotel from the East Sussex Record Office.

"One wall and one fireplace survives from that time from when Wilde and Conway stayed there in that suite of rooms," he told the BBC.

"It's that interaction, that stay, that led essentially to Oscar Wilde's downfall."

Wilde received a two-year prison sentence with hard labour after he lost the libel trial against Lord Queensberry, who had claimed his son, known as Bosie, was the literary celebrity's lover.

The writer had developed a friendship with Conway while on holiday in Worthing. Lawyers tracked the newspaper seller down and used his witness statement in court.

Wilde could have fled before the trial but opted to stay and "encounter the authorities' lack of humanity about the person that that he was", Shapland said.

The hotel rooms had been destroyed in a previous fire at the The Grade II* listed hotel in 1998, after which the section of the building was rebuilt.

Ongoing works after the 2023 fire revealed which parts of the original building from 1826 remained and which doorways were only inserted in the 20th century restoration.

Shapland said the current works were a "once-in-a-hundred-year opportunity" to learn about the building's history and "allow the building to tell the story of what happened within its walls".

"It doesn't further our understanding of Oscar Wilde but it furthers our appreciation of this sort of grand old lady of Brighton seafront," the archaeologist told the BBC.

Restoration and archaeology work at the Royal Albion Hotel forms part of the building owner Britannia Hotels's rebuilding project for the site.

The company submitted a planning application in June for the redevelopment of the property's eastern wing and said design work was continuing on replacing the demolished western section.

Britannia Hotels confirmed in July that contractors would introduce temporary traffic management measures on Grand Junction Road for demolition works.

That work will see Clive House - formerly residential buildings that became an extension of the hotel - torn down.

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