GRANTHAM CASTLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 268, 11 November 1937, Page 8

GRANTHAM CASTLE.

RICH WOMAN'S WHIM.

AIR RAID SHELTER. EDWARD VTI. WASTED THE ESTATE. {Special.—By Air Mail.) LONDON, October 23. Mrs. Violet Van Der Elst, the millionairess, who achieved notoriety by her campaign to abolish capital punishment, has bought a castle that King Edward VII. once wanted to buy. Mrs. Van Der Elst said this week: "The building used to be called Harlaxton Hall, but I am renaming it Grantham Castle, its ancient title. It was built more than a century ago in pseudoTudor style. It used to belong to the Norman family of De Ligue Gregory. They refused to sell to King Edward VII., eo he bought Sandringham. But the last member of the house died and I was able to buy it. That last owner wae known as 'The Man With the Gun. , He always walked about with a gun under his arm. He wouldnt' allow anyone else to shoot over the estate. "I shall go one better. No one shall shoot or even carry a gun in the grounds now it ie mine. No gune, no honwdi*. I ehall preserve it as a sanctuary for the dear birds and the wild creatures on the estate. "The furnishings? I bought through the Comptroller to the Royal Household from Buckingham Palace some Gobelin'* tapestries given by the late Czar to Queen Alexandra, hie eieter-in-law. I also bought some antique Japanese cabinete which Queen Alexandra gave to King George V., who left them to Queen Mary, who gave permission for the sale. "If I had not bought it, the castls would have been demolished for its fittings. There is £2000 worth of lead on the roof alone." Part of the great 125-rooui building is to be turned into a gasproof, bombproof shelter for the people of the neighbourhood in the event of air raide. "There ie room for 4000 people in the basement. I am going to install apparatus to pump in sufficient supplies of oxygen to keep thousands of people alive for a fortnight. We cannot guess when war will break out-but I intend to be ready with humanitarian preparations. What it will cost heaven alone knows—but I shall tell the authorities I am making plane to protect the public.

"I am the firet public-spirited person I suppose, to think of providing Inch 1 shelter for the people." °