A hotel in the childhood village of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll faces closure and conversion into flats, bringing 200 years of history to an end.

The Croft Spa Hotel, near Darlington, may be converted into 39 flats and houses.

Peter Featherstone, planning officer on Richmondshire District Council, last night confirmed he had received three planning applications from the hotel's owners, the Coast and Country group.

The group hopes to convert the Grade-II listed hotel and outbuildings and build homes on land behind it.

Mr Featherstone said the plan was to convert the main building into ten flats, and an additional six two-storey houses, 14 two-storey flats and nine three-storey flats, if permission was granted.

Councillors are expected to make a decision in July.

The planning application follows a controversial plan to build a block of six flats in the nearby village of Hurworth, which residents are planning to fight.

Last night, residents said the latest development would "rip the heart out of the village".

One, who did not want to be named, said: "The people in the village don't use the hotel much - but I know that this conversion will be unpopular. It will bring a lot of new people into the village, and make it a less desirable place to live. We've already had new homes built here and I don't want to see any more.

"The hotel has played a big part in Croft's history. It is a shame."

Coast and Country could not be contacted for comment last night.

In the past, visitors flocked to Croft, then known as Croft Spa, because of the health-giving sulphur springs nearby.

The hotel, which had pump rooms, baths and a verandah, was built in 1835 by Ignatius Bonomi, who also built Eggleston Hall, the Dinsdale Spa Hotel and Durham Prison.

In the 19th Century, it was the site of a horse-breeding stud, and three of its horses - including Underhand, the only horse to win the Pitman's Derby three times - are buried beneath the car park.

For much of the 20th Century, the hotel was known for its circular swimming pool, which was filled with water pumped from the River Tees.