The 1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade

(1 Samodzielna Brygada Spadochronowa)

Why Was
House Stripping Allowed?

Before The Town And Country Planning Act 1968, there was no legislation in place to protect old heritable property. Neither was there the sentiment or desire to protect old heritable houses. Severe apathy about the subject existed.

Even by 1955 when one grand house was being demolished every 5 days no-one raised a care. Perhaps this was due to the fact that as a servant in a large house you were poorly paid whereas work in private smaller houses was distinctly better paid.

Perhaps these grand houses were seen as nothing more than elaborate sweatshops.

Either way, no-one wanted to return to that way of life or what it stood for, least of all the common man. Remember too, that the wealthy saw these houses as money pits so, from both the working man's viewpoint and the wealthy mansion homeowners viewpoint, there was no desire to return to the old ways.

We also have to take into account that servants were told to keep their heads down when working, this coupled with a lack of education about the heritage and history of stately homes meant there was little appreciation for them.

So now, when you see the background of these houses, we start to understand why the demise set in and how it was allowed to continue.

Most of all, we start to understand what happened next in the history of Largo House, Its head was removed and it was internally dis-embowelled, which is another way of saying the roof was removed and the inward parts stripped out and sold off.

Demolition Of One Big House After Another

When I started researching into the stripping out and demolition of grand old mansions I came across a page with photos of beautiful house after beautiful house, all demolished and in the 1950s.

As yet I have not had the time to look into why each one was demolished but i'm certain the theme here is avoiding upkeep costs and taxes.

After you have reviewed the below links, you will start thinking Largo House is lucky to even be standing at all!

Take a look at these links:

 

Further Reading