Polbrean House is located just south of the lighthouse and was built around 1868, when a Mr Thomas Hart moved there from Falmouth. The picture showing the house and lighthouse was from around 1905.
The house was commissioned by Thomas and included an artist’s studio. His very popular painted subjects were mostly areas of The Lizard, Polbrean and Kynance Cove. He became a very well-known artist which allowed him to live in some style. The 1871 and 1881 census show the family living at Polbrean with outdoor servants, a governess, cook and a housemaid. Thomas lived in the house up until his death in 1916. It finally left the families hands in 1921 when Claude M Hart sold Polbrean at auction.
Mrs. J. A. Hill, proprietress of Hill’s Hotel (now the Top House pub) successfully bid and became the owner at the Truro auction of Polbrean House for the princely sum of £1,050! It was around this time the building became an Hotel operating as such for many years with quite a few changes of ownership along the way. The Polbrean Hotel became a popular venue for visitors and locals alike.
In August 1993 the National Trust bought the then empty Polbrean Hotel along with its 2.18 acres. The building itself had become quite run-down and was subsequently restored by the NT at a cost of nearly half a million pounds utilising a £425,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was fully re-furbished and became what we know it as today with the grand opening of YHA Lizard Point taking place in April 2003.
