SANDRINGHAM THROUGH THE AGES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 5 January 1940, Page 6

SANDRINGHAM THROUGH THE AGES

ROYAL ESTATE DOCUMENTS FOR SALE A CHRISTMAS TREAT OF 1445 I By Air Mail—Special Correspondent'’ LONDON, 16th December. An interesting collection of documents and letters relating to the Royal estate of Sandringham is to be sold by auction in London. 'i-e history of the estate goes back to the fourteenth century and there were several manor houses on the site before King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) built the present residence 70 years ago. The Earl of Oxford held the estate from Henry VII; Henry VIII afterwards surrendered it to the Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Sales, Lord Rivers, the Cobbe and the Hoste families were successive holders. As Sandringham has been the scene of many Royal Christmas festivities during the last three reigns, it is interesting to discover that even as far back as 1445 Lord Scales held a Christmas gathering there when a play on a lavish scale was performed in the courtyard. Before King Edward VII acquired the property it was held by Mr Spencer Cowper, who married the widow of Count D’Orsay. It was bought for the then Prince of Wales out of the savings of his minority and was intended to be' used on 1 ” as a shooting b^x. Lord Palmerston saw the possibilities of developing it into a pleasant Royal retreat, and after the present house was erected in 1869 it became the King’s favourite country residence.