A Doomed House
The history of 'a very fine Georgian country• house, succeeding an Elizabethan house, with a history of continuous ownership, has now been completed. A concise _record will illustrate the way politicians _affect our rural -chronicles. • (1) After the war the hereditary owner was forced to leave. (2) The house and estate were sold to a worthy successor, but after starting state improvements he was refused a • permit to do necessary. .repairs.- - (3) House and estate were then sold to purchasers who Were interested chiefly in the land. k (4) Leave to alter the structure of the house Was refused by the planners on aesthetic and historical grounds. (5) "Last stage of all" pennissiort.was granted on appeal to pull 'the house down, Adam's ceilings and ‘all. The tale has no redeeming feature ; and the loss is regretted by no one more than the poorer folk of the village and, indeed, of the farms. All is loss ; and the loss is accentuated by the ruthless felling of timber and the blocking of rights .of way.
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