'Useless anachronisms?' : a study of the country houses and landed estates of Northamptonshire since 1880 / by Neil Lyon.

Northampton : Northamptonshire Record Society, 2018.

xiii, 239 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Victor Hatley memorial series ; volume 5

"At a Northamptonshire Record Society lecture in 1947, Sir Gyles Isham of Lamport Hall posed the question whether country houses were "useless anachronisms". At that time the future certainly looked bleak, and the wave of demolitions had begun. Subsequent commentators would add weight to the argument that it was all but over for the country house and the traditional landed estate. The evidence in this book gives a very different picture. Researching in detail the fortunes of Northamptonshire's principal houses and estates since 1880, the author argues that the picture of decline and fall is open to challenge and that the real story is the remarkable survival of the country house. If the story in Northamptonshire is remotely typical of the national picture then this book may change the way that people interpret the leading literature on the fortunes of the country house and landed estates in the twentieth century." - dustjacket flyleaf.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Victor Hatley memorial volume ; v. 5.

Great Britain -- England.

DA670.N7 L96 2018

271628