Since 1900, 1,200 country houses have been demolished in England. This was 1/6 of all our country houses. Another 378 were demolished in Scotland. The majority of these came after the Second World War.

By 1955, one stately home was being demolished every 5 days!

For centuries, the country house had been a bedrock of British rural life. They provided large scale employment, housing and patronage to the village school, the parish church, and the local hospital. In addition to the destruction of community, an unimaginable amount of history was erased. Not to mention countless collections of art, antiques, furniture dispersed, sold, lost.

There was no legislation in place to protect the houses, and the government hasten their destruction through increasing tax on them. Public opinion at the time was total indifference. This is one of the biggest cultural tragedies in Britain’s history. It’s so recent, yet barely anybody knows about it.