Grade-II* listed Woolsington Hall, set in 340 acres of fine parkland, was bought in 1994 by Sir John Hall, who had successfully turned Wynyard Hall into a palatial hotel. Though on a much smaller scale, Woolsington was to also be converted into a small, luxury hotel at a cost of £8m – 10m. However, after several years of inaction, its deteriorating condition led to it being placed on the English Heritage ‘buildings-at-risk’ register in 2002. Despite work in 2008 to make the building watertight and in prepartation of the main conversion, work has been halted again. Sir John insists the money is still available but that he is so busy with his many other ventures that he is unable to commit to it at the moment.
Though this is somewhat understandable in the current economic climate, as a Grade-II* listed building it must not be forgotten and allowed to decay again. The building remains on the English Heritage register but hopefully work will start again to rescue this charming smaller country house in 2010 and bring it back to life.
When the Grade-II* listed Shrubland Hall near Ipswich in Suffolk was put on the market for £23m in 2006 it included over 40 cottages, several farms, over 1,400 acres and one of the finest Italianate houses in the country. The house was originally designed by James Paine in the 1770s it was extensively altered by Sir Charles Barry in the 1840s. Lord de Saumurez had decided to start afresh with a grand country house auction rarely seen such a scale since the 1950s, and which included Meissen porcelain, paintings, and many fine pieces of Georgian furniture. The sale was a roaring success but the house itself languished on the market as the especially as the growing global credit crunch limited the desire for buyers wealthy enough to take on the 40,000 sq ft. house.
However, after three years, and selling off much of the estate in smaller lots, the house plus a few hundred acres of parkland including the listed gardens designed by Sir Humphrey Repton, has now finally been sold for £6.5m to a London businessman. It will now be interesting to see how the estate develops as without the larger estate it will be simply a home supported by income from elsewhere. Here’s hoping that the new owner fully understands and appreciates the architectural gem they have acquired.
The latest edition of that ‘bible’ of country house visiting, ‘Hudson’s Historic Houses and Gardens, Castles and Heritage Sites‘, has just been launched. Described in their own words as “a definitive guide to the best historic houses and gardens, castles and heritage sites that Britain has to offer.”. Useful not only for your weekend trips but also for events and weddings – so get out there and support our beautiful houses!
The application to restore Yaldham Manor, near Wrotham in Kent, has been delayed again with the decision deferred until a site visit has taken place in February. After a first application, submitted three years ago, was withdrawn as it was thought likely to fail, the new application [pdf] was first submitted back in January 2009 and has been the subject of extensive discussions as to the appropriateness of the enabling development.
Yaldham Manor has a 14th-century great hall, which also features a large Tudor window, and also impressive ornamental chimneys. Latterly the home of the Lade and Cory families it is now falling into a poor state of repair and requires urgent work. To fund the restoration of the main house, the application seeks permission to create a ‘hamlet’ with new cottages being built to replace ones which have been demolished and also new homes in the derelict outbuildings. The main house will remain as a single residence.
It seems a shame that they all couldn’t be bought by someone who could restore the house and outbuildings as a single family mini-estate. However, if this is not possible, and much as I’m usually against most enabling development, this seems to be a sensitive proposal. I fully support the council in taking a very close look at the application however it does seem a shame that it will have taken over a year to reach a decision but it must be recognised that our heritage requires a careful balance between protection and ensuring that appropriate works can be carried out.
It’s been announced that the National Trust has today succeeded in it’s campaign to acquire Seaton Deleval Hall, regarded as one of the finest Baroque houses in England. However, the success in securing the future of the hall has again come about as a result the damage caused by inheritage tax leading to treasures – usually art or antiques, but sometimes buildings – being taken into ‘national’ ownership rather than remaining in private hands.
Seaton Deleval Hall was built for Admiral George Deleval by Sir John Vanbrugh and was completed in 1871. Vanbrugh’s other notable commissions included Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. However the house suffered a devastating fire in 1822 which gutted the central block which remained as a shell until 1980 when the 22nd Baron Hastings (Edward Delaval Henry Astley) partially restored it.
The 22nd Baron and his wife both died in 2007 triggering a significant inheritance tax bill. It was this that led to the house being put up for sale and the start of a fund-raising campaign to save it for the nation. The house and 400 surrounding acres have now been accepted in lieu of £1.7m of tax (the first time since Calke Abbey in 1984) with the contents covering a further £3.2m.
The National Trust have generously contributed £6.9m to the endowment with a further £3m raised to cover other costs associated with opening it to the public. The first visitors are expected to arrive in April 2010, part of an estimated 50,000 a year who will be able to see one of Vanbrugh’s masterpieces.
So whilst there is a success in that the house will now be secure and not carved up into flats, it’s still a shame that another part of our national architectural heritage is denied its primary function of being a home. Inheritance tax has a pernicious creep – it can’t be avoided and just results in each generation selling off more historic artefacts to fund government budgets. Give it a few hundred years and one conclusion could be that a majority of the crowning jewels of our artistic heritage including buildings, art and antiques could well end up being owned by a national organisation, be it the National Trust or the galleries. For me, the art treasures of a nation are best located in the houses and families for whom they were produced or bought for, rather than part of a vast national archive, only brought out once a decade or less. Inheritance tax makes a relatively small contribution to the national budget but it does have a disproportionate impact on our cultural heritage.
The Country Seat 