The Ricardo Album

Sale by Messrs. Driver and Co.

THE CAMPSEY ASHE ESTATE

On Tuesday, Messrs. Driver and Co. brought under the hammer at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, the Campsey Ashe Estate, near Wickham Market, Suffolk, the property of the late Mr. J. G. Sheppard, and which the Auctioneer said had been in the possession of the Sheppard Family for nearly 250 years. The estate he described as a manorial, residential, and sporting domain, containing nearly 4,100 acres, all freehold, except about 500 acres, which are copyhold. The present mansion is in Elizabethan and Tudor styles, and was erected about 20 years ago on the site of the old mansion, at a cost of £40,000. The grounds are of an imposing appearance, enclosed by wood, the few hedges and cedars being particularly fine, and of great antiquity. The deer and home parks contain about 144 acres, and the woods and plantations about 240 acres. The estate is sub-divided into 13 farms, with houses and homesteads, at rents ranging from £70 to £650. There are also several cottages and small occupations, with maltings and residences, at Snape, and the Green Man Inn, Tunstall, the whole producing, including the estimated annual value of the mansion, parks, and other lands, shooting, woods, and plantations, about £4,150 a year. There was a large company present. The bidding commenced at £50,000, and rose slowly by thousands to £105,000, at which sum the estate was knocked down to the Hon. W. Lowther, of Lowther Lodge, Hyde Park, London.