What price for family history?
July 14th, 2010 by claire.mitchellI came across this story this morning. On first glance, it may look like another story about another big country house on the market – even if this one has managed to survive since pre-Norman conquest days without being on the market a single time until now. However, as I read on I was rather surprised to find it tugging at my heartstrings.
It is pretty remarkable that, since Saxon times, the house has passed from generation to generation in an almost unbroken line. So doesn’t it seem sad to you that it’s now on offer to the highest bidder?
The current incumbent, Nick Stirling, married in to Shakenhurst Hall – his wife Amanda grew up there and inherited the house after her father’s death in 2007. However, within a year, Amanda died of cancer. The estate passed into a trust for their children – most of which was earmarked for their son Rowland, not so much for their daughter Phoebe (who’d be a girl in the world of the landed gentry?) – but now the children, being at university/on a gap year and without the required funds to run a country estate – have had to put it up for sale.
What has got under my skin with this story is that this country pile is so much more than a pretty pile of bricks. Home might be where the heart is for most people, but in this case, hundreds of years of family history will also go with the sale, not to mention Amanda’s grave, which is in the estate’s grounds. How would you put a price on that (although, of course, they have, and it’s offers over £12 million only, please).
Read the whole story on the Mail Online – the history of this place is really quite fascinating and involves everyone from William the Conqueror to Michael Heseltine and, strangely, even Dominic West of the Wire fame. And if you fancy making a bid on the place yourself, check out its listing on Primelocation.com.
July 22nd, 2010 at 6:59 am
Such a sad story, I have in mind my mum and dad’s house which is a beautiful house. I would love to keep it in the family and this would only be the first generation, but to have a house in your family for that amount of time and then to have to sell it is sad.