Dismantled & Ready to be Shipped to America..

This was the first fireplace to be dismantled and removed from the castle.
Just click on a photograph if you'd like to enlarge it, you'll see much more detail.

Way back in 1911 Tattershall Castle had fallen into disrepair, and was unloved and unwanted.... few people had heard of Lincolnshire, never mind Tattershall.

The owner had no interest in it, the buildings and land were to be sold.

This beautiful room is the Audience Chamber, on the second floor

A meeting of the Council of the National Trust was convened, but decided against purchasing the castle, despite being offered an interest free loan to do so!

Instead it was purchased by an American millionaire, who planned to have the whole castle dismantled and shipped, brick by brick, to the U.S.

When news of this was made public there was a huge outcry, especially when it became known that the huge and handsome stone fireplaces were being dismantled and taken away from the castle, in pieces.   Bricks were smashed, chimneys dismantled, rubble lay all around.

Luckily Lord Curzon  (Viceroy of India) was able to purchase the building and  he set about trying to track down the missing fireplaces.

He had all the ports watched so that they could not be taken out of the country.   Eventually he was contacted by a dealer, acting as the middleman for the people who now owned the fireplaces.

Image borrowed from tattershallwiththorpe, many thanks

Image borrowed from tattershallwiththorpe, many thanks 

To cut a long story short, a deal was struck and they were returned at a cost of £5,155.00.  This was in May 1912.   The two black and white photographs show the triumphant return of the fireplaces.

The dismantled fireplaces would have been taken down this beautiful staircase.

Going up the spiral staircase doesn't seem so bad, coming down is a little trickier - especially given that it is two-way traffic...

There are approximately 150 steps from the basement to the battlements.

This photograph may give you some idea of the scale of the fireplaces and the vastness of the 'chambers'.   Each floor has one large chamber with a few very small ante-rooms leading off.

It is a very simple building with lots of beautiful detailing, both inside and out.   The walls have never been plastered or painted.  The principle rooms were hung with huge tapestries like this one.    Everything was on a grand scale.

Even corridors had beautiful ceilings.

Here we are at the top of the building, a beautiful open air space.  Climb another few stairs and you are rewarded with amazing views of the countryside - see my previous post.

On a clear day you can see all the way to Boston - in Lincolnshire, of course!