When you have lived in a house for a few years clutter has a way of accumulating.
After 700 years and 28 generations in the same family Powderham Castle in Devon, is filled to the rafters.
To clear some space – and raise funds for restoration of parts of the house damaged by water from a leaking roof — the castle’s current incumbent, Charlie Courtenay, the 19th Earl of Devon, is having a clear out.
Hanker after a rug made from the pelt of a polar bear? Some fine French porcelain? Perhaps a functional canon or a slightly worse-for-wear arm chair? These treasures — and much more — from the depths of Powderham Castle have gone under the hammer.
“Every single piece has been a bit of an emotional struggle,” said Courtenay, who turns 50 in August. “For ten years I have been thinking about whether it would be appropriate to have a sale, and what to do with the contents of the attics.”
Powderham Castle, eight miles south of Exeter and overlooking the River Exe, has belonged to his ancestors since Hugh de Courteney married Margaret de Bohun, a granddaughter of King Edward I, in 1325. The land upon which the castle is built was a part of her dowry, and the castle was built a generation later by their son, Philip.
Courtenay, a 49-year-old lawyer, moved to the “beast of a medieval castle” as a teenager and inherited it ten years ago along with the earlship. He lived there with his actress wife AJ Langer – My So-Called Life, Baywatch – and their two children until their separation in 2023.
As things stand his son, the younger child, will inherit the title after Courtenay’s death, although he has campaigned in the House of Lords to change the rule of primogeniture which would allow his daughter to inherit.
Maintaining such a substantial home costs a fortune. “It is not huge as castles go,” said Courteney. “But bedrooms go up into the thirties. We don’t know exactly how many of them there are.”
The plan is to use the proceeds from the sale to restore the castle library. Its floor needs to be strengthened so that two huge bookcases, currently sited just outside the room, can be returned to their rightful place. This will free up the anteroom and Courtenay hopes to use it to display a portrait of William Courtenay, the dashing 9th earl, whose romance with art collector William Thomas Beckford scandalised 18th century Britain. The portrait is held in an American collection and the plan is to hang it close to a painting of Beckford, owned by the National Trust.
Then there is simply the cost of simply running the house. “Our energy and insurance bills have increased by six figures in the past few years,” said Courtenay.
In order to pay for its upkeep, parts of the castle are open to the public and it is used for regular events, from pop concerts to food festivals, and opera. The Grade I listed castle was also used as a location for the film Remains of the Day, starring Dame Emma Thompson and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
In 2009 the previous earl, Courtenay’s late father, auctioned family portraits and antiques worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to raise funds for the upkeep of his castle. His father, Courtenay’s grandfather, had sold tracts of land.
· The Attic Sale, featuring lots from Powderham Castle and Brocklesbury Park, home of the Earl and Countess of Yarlborough, will be held by auctioneer Dreweatts on June 3. For more information see dreweatts.com
