Whippingham

Sale of Barton Manor Estate 6th October, 1953

The estate comprising of nearly 700 acres came up for auction at Unity Hall, Newport in 28 lots on the above date. A brief description of property given at the time of the sale;-

"It has a frontage facing Osborne Bay and a private bathing beach, and at one stage it is believed to have been the site of a Franciscan monastery. Under the supervision of Prince Albert the manor and grounds were updated and it is reported that the land was cultivated" Many of the buildings still bear Royal coat of arms and field gates feature an entwined "V" and "A".

Prior to being purchased by Queen Victoria in 1845 the estate had been owned by Winchester College for around four centuries. With the purchase by Queen of Barton, it then became part of the Royal Osborne Estates until Osborne was given to the nation in 1902 by King Edward V11.

Barton remained in the procession of the royal family until being sold in 1922 to the Tillett family who farmed the land for 30 years. A few weeks before today’s sale the estate was sold to privately to a mainland syndicate. As a result 15 lots were withdrawn from today’s auction, these included the manor house, Kings Quay a cottage in five acres of land built to a design of Prince Albert for Queen Victoria to use for picnics.

At the auction it was announced that several tenants had secured their properties on reasonable terms, these included Mrs Felton at Dailimores, Mrs Gregson at Dashwood, Mr Rann at Whippingham Smithy, Mrs Wiles at Woodmans Cottage and Miss Pudan at Brocks Lodge.

Under a separate heading the Manor House with about 26 acres including the private beach was offered first with a recommended opening bid of £12,000. No offers were made and the price was reduced until an opening bid of £5,000 was received. With two interested bidders the price increased slowly in £500 increments until an offer of £7,500 was received; at that time the lot was withdrawn. As a consequence of this action the following were also withdrawn Barton Lodge (north and south0, a grass field in the north of the estate; the 54 acre Barton Wood and 42 acres of woodland and grassland (including Cliff Copse).

The next lot to be offered was Barton Farm, the auctioneer proposed an opening bid of £10,000 but this had to be reduced until a opening bid of £9,000 was received. Bidding rose slowly in £500 bids until a bid of £11,750 from Mr. Purser, Sapperton House, County Waterford, Southern Ireland was accepted.

The next lot offered was the 221 acre Woodhouse Farm with five cottages and milking equipment for 65 cows. An opening bid of £10,000 was proposed, but no bids were forthcoming and the figure was continually reduced until an opening bid of £4,000 was received at which point three binders became involved. The figure slowly rose until a bid of £6,850 was accepted from R Richards, Moncrief Farm, Wroxall, Isle of Wight.

Other properties Sold to Individuals
Sold To	Property	Sale Price
Mr. Mathews	Cottage	£850.00.
Mr. Roe	Whippingham Cottage (south)	£565.00.
Ald. Snow	Whippingham Cottage (north)	£150.00.
Ald. Snow	East and West Alverstone Lodges	£700.00.
Mr Williams	51/2 acres land Alverstone Road	£675.00

Properties Not Sold at Auction
Property	Withdrawn At
Coburg Dairy	£3250.00
2 Mathews Cottages	£700,00
Clavells Copse	£325.00
Six Acre field	£300.00
4 Acres Land Newport Road	No Bid
Kings Key Cottage and 5 Acres	No Bid
Woodhouse Copse	No Bid
The Grove, Steps Copse	Withdrawn
Brick Kiln Copse	Withdrawn

After the auction is was stated that local bidders had negotiated privately for lots withdrawn and private negotiations were taking place for other lots.

We believe one of the new owners of this slimed down estate in 1953 was Miss Annie Holt who later moved to Westwood House, Wootton.

After 1953

It is reported that in 1987, work started on restoring the house and farm buildings to their original splendour. We believe this work may have been carried by the new owners Anthony and Alex Goddard who gave the estate a new lease of life. Unfortunately in 1991 the restoration work was brought to an untimely end with the Lloyds insurance banking collapse, and the family were forced to sell.

We believe the next owner was the impresario Robert Stigwood who bought Barton manor and undertook a lengthy programme of refurbishment, not only of the manor house, but of the estate, its buildings and the grounds.

The manor is approached by its own private drive, and stands beside the grounds of Osborne House. The manor is spacious but not over-large, with four main reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, a pool room and sauna, plus seven bedrooms, six bathrooms and a sitting room on the top two floors.

The magnificent farm buildings have been converted to a variety of uses, including a gym, a billiards room, a staff flat, various function rooms, a tennis pavilion and a two-storey barn. Estate houses include a lodge cottage and the refurbished, four-bedroom Barton Manor Farmhouse, currently used for holiday lets. But perhaps the most special of all the estate's amenities are its three-quarters of a mile of beach, with 18 acres of foreshore leased from the Crown and views of the Solent.

The celebrated gardens-which include two lakes, a secret garden, woodland walks and Fort Barton Maze, a mixture of hedge and roses with a central folly-come into their own in spring and summer; latterly, they have been open to the public for four days a year, in aid of charity.

In 2005 the manor was sold by Robert Stigwood to Panaghis N.F. Lykiardopulo and his wife, who were part of the Lykiardopulo family of Greek shipping owners. In 2009 Mrs Lykiardopulo became the sole owner of the estate and in March 2012 placed the estate on the market with an asking price of in the region of £6 million pounds. The estate was sold in June 2012 for a reported figure of £5.95 million pounds to Mr Haig-Thomas.

Source: County Press October 1953