BATTLE ABBEY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11661, 21 January 1902, Page 3

BATTLE ABBEY.

SOLD BY AUCTION FOR £200,000, The notification that Battle Abbey, whose historic associations date back to the time of William the Conqueror, was to be sold at public auction on November 26th, brought together so large a gathering that the Martin Tokenhouse-yard was not equal to the demands made upon, it, and an adjournment •was made to the Great Hall of Winchester House, which itself was crowded in every part. The auctioneer was Mr Joseph Stower. The property offered comprised not only the historic abbey, founded in 1067 by William the Conqureor, on the site of the battle of Hastings, to commemorate his victory over King Harold, but the adjoining domain, including dower house, farms and woodlands, with a total acreage of 6118, and a ret* roll'of about £5500. The magnificentbuildings, which have been placed in the market in consequence of the death of the Duchess of Cleveland, mother of the Earl of Rosebery, are well known among the " show places "of England. The ownership carries with it the lordship of the manor of Battle and the ownership of the great tithes, together with chancel of the ancient parish chur.ch of St. Mary, with rights of sepulture.' It was provided that possession should be given on completion of the purchase, but that -certain fixtures and fitted furniture in the abbey—including the old 'tapestries, armour and trophies in the Abbot's Hall, the panels of the Tapestry bedroom and the Aubusson tapestry in the Gothic Room—were to be taken over and paid for at a valuation. The bidding was started somewhat diffidently, the first serious offer being one of £BO,OOO. Next came an offer of £IOO,OOO, and bv increases of £IO.OOO, the bidding gradually rose'to £190,000, then to £191.000, and" on to £200,000, at which ficure it was knocked down by Mr Stower to Mr Edwin Fox, of the firm of Edwin Fox and Bousfield, acting for an anonymous purchaser. Curiosity was naturally rife to know into whose possession and' (as everyone hopes) guardianship the historic abbey is to pass, but Mr Fox absolutely refused to disclose his name. It was intimated, however, that he is an Englishman—a fact which will cause many a sigh of relief—and'; further, that when his identity is revealed everybody will be pleased. With that soothing information inquirers must rest content for the present. The " Gentlewoman is informed that the purchaser is Sir Augustus Webster, Bart, who was in the Grenadier Guards, and whose family oricinally possessed the property The'Websters are descended from an ancient family seated at Lockington, in Yorkshire, in the time of Richard 11. fair Augustus Webster, who is 37 years old succeeded his father in 1886. and married six vears ao-o Mabel, daughter of the late Mr Henrv Crossley. He is patron of one ot the livings near Battle. ■