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.
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 After a first application, submitted three years ago, was withdrawn as it was thought likely to fail, the new application [pdf] was first submitted back in January 2009 and has been the subject of extensive discussions as to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.
So the Liberal Democrats have decided to make it harder to maintain a key part of our national heritage, that of our country houses. Whilst I’m sure that it must look attractive from a ‘get-a-few-headlines’ point of view to be seen to be demanding money from the rich, the impact is much harsher. Those who happen to have perhaps inherited a historic house – but usually little cash – will again find that the money which would probably have gone on maintenance would now be expected to thrown in the goverment’s bottomless pit of expenditure.
Another potential consequence of this is that our artistic cultural heritage is reduced further as owners, faced with mounting repair bills and now reduced funds, will again need to sell of yet more art or furniture. This is a depressing spiral downwards as a house is shorn of many of the pieces which make it interesting and are part of what makes Britain such an important destination for scholars and tourists alike. The contents of a house are almost as important as the house itself – one supports other.
So, the main hope is that the Lib Dems are unlikely to gain power and so their attack on heritage will remain just a piece of political grandstanding. Perhaps the main danger is that of a hung Parliament with the Lib Dems making this bad idea a key demand.
Hagley Hall, Worcestershire (Image: Hagley Hall website)
When the listed building restrictions were originally introduced the compensation for not being to do exactly as you wished with your house was that the government would provide grants towards maintainence. Obviously successive governments have seen these funds as an easy target when seeking cost cuts and so despite the legitimate limits on changes still being enforced, the cost of the work was now largely borne by the owner.
So the news that English Heritage are atleast providing matched funding to the tune of £210,000 for much needed repairs and conservation work to the beautiful Hagley Hall in Worcestershire is to be very much welcomed. Now, if only they could perhaps prise open the coffers of the lottery funds to provide further grants we might actually be able to claim that we truly support our built heritage.
The Country Seat 