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Yours For Only Two Million Pounds
Hadlow Castle- a pencil-thin gothic tower from the 1830s has gone on the market again. The Daily Mail prints lots of lovely pictures and says it looms over the "market town of Tonbridge"- which it doesn't because it's about four miles away. Back in the late 60s- when it was abandoned and structurally unsafe- a bunch of us kids used it as the set for a tasteful 8mm silent movie about demonic possession and got to climb to the top. I was remembering this- and wondering how I had the gumption- when I wrote last week's post about the man in the tree.
Back then it belonged to Bernard Hailstone- whom the Mail calls a "Royal Artist" on the strength of his having once painted the Queen. I 've come across examples of his work since- and am pleased to report that he was competent and sometimes a little more. All I remember about him is he wore a beard- which was a sure marker of bohemianism in the provinces in the mid-20th century....
I liked his granddaughter but my mate Rupert- who was destined for a career in the Royal Navy- elbowed in between us.
Back then it belonged to Bernard Hailstone- whom the Mail calls a "Royal Artist" on the strength of his having once painted the Queen. I 've come across examples of his work since- and am pleased to report that he was competent and sometimes a little more. All I remember about him is he wore a beard- which was a sure marker of bohemianism in the provinces in the mid-20th century....
I liked his granddaughter but my mate Rupert- who was destined for a career in the Royal Navy- elbowed in between us.
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On the other hand, I'd like to know more about how the renovation came to be funded by public money, what the 'restrictive covenants' were that the vendor has managed to get lifted, and whether there is any connection between those two things...
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But I don't really grudge the spending of public money. It's a magnificent object in the landscape- and as such belongs to everybody. You can see it from our back field.
It was in a very poor state of repair and could have been lost forever. Squire Barton May was building for effect and not for posterity. It's just brick and stucco- it doesn't have the solidity of a proper medieval tower.
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Oh, me neither. But if, at the end of the process, it is to be sold at an impressive profit, I'd like to see some of that profit go back to fund the next rescue.
It's a magnificent object in the landscape- and as such belongs to everybody.
Good point.
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