WINCHESTER’S connection with fictional detective Sherlock Holmes has been marked with a new plaque.

Holmes and Watson stayed at the Black Swan Hotel on the corner of Southgate Street and the High Street in one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories.

The hotel was demolished in the 1930s so the plaque has been put on the wall of the replacement building, which also sports a statue of a black swan a replica of one from the hotel..

Local historian Chris Webb has long campaigned for the literary connection to be marked.

Rob Humby, deputy leader of the city council, said: “People are often fascinated to discover and visit Winchester locations that feature in fiction so I expect this plaque to add another destination on the trail that already features the likes of Jane Austen and the poet John Keats.”

The £200 polished steel plaque, funded by the council, reads: “The black swan above you is a replica of one which once adorned the Black Swan Hotel that stood on this site from the 19th century until 1935 when the hotel was demolished and replaced by Black Swan Buildings. The Black Swan Hotel was ‘visited’ by Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.”