Note: This blog’s focus in 2016 is to compile a list of lost country houses of Ireland and Northern Ireland; so if you can help, please contact Andrew. Hence, houses for sale in 2016 will only be shown on Twitter (plus The Country Seat and Heritage Gazette).
The top British and Irish stately homes sold during 2016:
Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England (Mar) – asking £10m, 40 year lease, 543 acres, sold to Shanghai billionaire Yu Songbo, freehold owned by 3rd Baron Brocket, Grade I, Knight Frank, last sold 1996 (60 year lease), in administration Mar 2015, launched Apr 2015.
Pitchford Hall, Shropshire, England (Sep) – private sale to Rowena Colthurst & husband James Nason (who own the Hall’s 1,000 acre estate), c76 acres, house Grade I, gardens Grade II, last sold 1992 by Colthurst family (owned since 1473), Wiki.
Plas Glynllifon, Gwynedd, Wales (Apr) – asking £1m, 17 acres, sold to hoteliers, Grade I, David Currie & Co, in receivership & launched Jul 2013 £4m.
Soughton Hall, Flintshire, Wales (Feb) – sold to Elle R Leisure (James Ramsbottom) by John and Rosemary Rodenhurst, Grade II*, last sold 1987.
Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, England (Apr) – sold to Peter Sheppard and partner Keith Day (of design company Sheppard Day) by 10th Baron Walpole, est c£10m, Grade I, gdns Grade II*.
Castle Toward, Argyll and Bute, Scotland (Oct) – £1.435m, 125 acres, Category B, sold to Keith Punler & Denice Purdie (to become an events venue) by Argyll and Bute Council, asking £1.75m, under offer July 2015, £850k offer in 2014 by South Cowal Community Development Company (SCCDC) rejected, Wiki.
Caer Rhun Hall, Conwy, Wales (Jan) – over £1m & close to £1.4m asking, 20 acres, sold to MBi Consulting by John Anderson, under offer Oct 2015, Grade II, last sold c1953.
Finchcocks, Kent, England (Sep) – asking £3m, 13 acres, Grade I, Savills, launched Apr, Wiki.
Kinnaird House, Perthshire, Scotland (May) – asking £9.6m, 6,235 acres, sold to Crawford Gillies by Ward family, Category B, launched Sep 2015.
Kirby Knowle Castle, North Yorkshire, England (mid) – asking £3.85m, 37 acres, Grade II, last sold 2000 to Alisa and Richard Proctor, launched Jul 2013 £4.5m, £4m 2014.
tbc – Fenton House, Northumberland, England (early) – asking £10m, 2,273 acres, unlisted, by Earl of Durham, launched May 2015.
Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire, England (Dec) – 999-year-lease (issued by Stoke Rochford Estate c1948) sold to Talash Hotels Group by National Union of Teachers, last sold 1978, launched 2016, Grade II*, Wiki.
Northcote House, Sunningdale Park, Berkshire, England (Dec) – 70 acres, sold (subject to obtaining development planning permission) to Berkeley Homes and Audley Retirement, by the Cabinet Office.
Bective House, Co Meath, Ireland (Nov) – c€4.2m, 180 acres, launched Apr 2016 €3.5m.
South Ormsby Hall, Lincolnshire, England – 3,000 acres, sold to Jon & Jan Thornes by Massingberd-Mundy family for the first time.
Contents Auctions (sale of house contents in situ or at auction houses):
Finchcocks, Kent, England (11 May) – £835K, est £0.9m, 350 lots, Wiki.
where is houses for sale for this year?
Sorry, I won’t have time to do both the Lost list and the Houses For Sale list in 2016, so please use Twitter for the latter. When the Lost list is completed, I will do a catch-up on the Houses For Sale.