Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Landmark Trust

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Formation
  
1965

Director
  
Dr Anna Keay

Region served
  
Predominantly UK

Landmark Trust

Legal status
  
Building conservation and preservation charity

Headquarters
  
Shottesbrooke, Berkshire, United Kingdom

Website
  
www.landmarktrust.org.uk

The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headquarters is at Shottesbrooke in Berkshire.

Contents

Most Trust properties are in England, Scotland and Wales. Several are on Lundy Island off the coast of north Devon, operated under lease from the National Trust. In continental Europe there are Landmark sites in Belgium, France and Italy. Five properties are in the United States — all in Vermont — one of which, Naulakha, was the home of Rudyard Kipling in the 1890s.

The Trust is a charity registered in England & Wales and in Scotland. The American sites are owned by an independent sister charity, Landmark Trust USA. There is also an Irish Landmark Trust.

Those who rent "Landmarks" provide a source of funds to support restoration costs and building maintenance. The first rentals were in 1967 when six properties were available. In 2015 the Trust had 196 properties available. Landmark sites include forts, farmhouses, manor houses, mills, cottages, castles, gatehouses, follies and towers and represent historic periods from medieval to the 20th century.

In media

In May 2015 five life-sized sculptures by Sir Antony Gormley, titled Land, were placed near the centre of the UK and at four compass points, in a commission by the Landmark Trust to celebrate its 50th anniversary. They were at Lowsonford (Warwickshire), Lundy (Bristol Channel), Clavell Tower (Dorset), Saddell Bay (Mull of Kintyre), and the Martello Tower (Aldeburgh, Suffolk).

The work of the Trust was the subject of a six-part Channel 4 television documentary, Restoring Britain's Landmarks, first broadcast in October 2015.

Properties

The following lists aim to be complete and illustrate both the variety of structures and geographical spread of the trust. In the Trust's early years, prior to the incorporation of the charity, properties were often bought with the support of the Manifold Trust. The Trust's current portfolio also includes properties bequeathed to the Trust, leased, or operated through a management agreement on behalf of other owners. Dates of acquisition and first lettings are shown where available from Landmark Trust or other published sources; time differences between dates often reflect previous/current ownership and the extent of restoration required.

Channel Islands

  • Fort Clonque, Alderney
  • Nicolle Tower, St Clement, Jersey

    • Lundy

    The Landmark Trust manages the Island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel on behalf of the National Trust, and operates a number of holiday cottages there. The properties managed by the Trust include:

  • The Barn
  • Bramble Villa East
  • Bramble Villa West
  • Castle and Keep Cottages
  • Government House
  • Hanmers
  • Millcombe House
  • The Old House
  • The Old Light
  • The Old School
  • The Quarters
  • Radio Room
  • St John's
  • Square Cottage
  • Stoneycroft
  • Tibbets

    • Belgium

  • Hougoumont, close to the site of the Battle of Waterloo. The Trust contributed to the Chateau Hougoumont farm's £3M restoration, from 2013. An apartment in the former gardener's cottage over the south gates has been let since 2015.

    • France

  • La Célibataire, Le Maison des Amis and Le Moulin de la Tuilerie, Gif-sur-Yvette, Essonne. Let since 2010.

    • Italy

  • Casa de Mar, San Fruttuoso - from summer 2016
  • Casa Guidi, Florence - from 1995
  • Piazza di Spagna, Rome - from 1982
  • Sant'Antonio, Tivoli - from 1995
  • Villa Saraceno, Agugliaro - restored 1984-1995
  • Villa dei Vescovi, Padua (two apartments) - from 2006

    • United States

  • Amos Brown House
  • The Dutton Farmhouse
  • Naulakha (Rudyard Kipling House)
  • Kipling's Carriage House, Naulakha
  • The Sugarhouse

    • Properties under restoration

    As at December 2016, the following properties were being restored by the Trust for future lettings:

  • Coed y Bleddiau, near Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd - cottage adjacent to Ffestiniog Railway. Acquired 2014. Estimated completion date: 2018.
  • Llwyn Celyn, Llanthony, Monmouthshire - Medieval Hall House, formerly part of the Llanthony Priory Estate in the Brecon Beacons Black Mountain area. Acquired 2011. Estimated completion date: 2018.

    • Projects under consideration

    As at December 2016, the following properties were being considered for restoration and future lettings:

  • Calverley Old Hall, Main Wing - adjacent to existing property let
  • Fairburn Tower, Inverness
  • Falsgrave Signal Box, Scarborough, North Yorkshire

    • Other properties previously considered by the Trust include:

  • The Master's House, Maidstone, Kent - rejected 2002 on grounds of size
  • Warder's Tower, Biddulph, Staffordshire - leased from Staffordshire County Council 2008-2010, returned when no acceptable solution could be found for dealing with four colonies of bats

    • Former properties

    Properties formerly run as holiday lets and owned, leased or run by the Landmark Trust on a management arrangement basis include:

  • Edale Mill, Edale, Derbyshire - The Trust bought the mill in 1969 and converted it into seven flats. Six were sold after conversion with one being retained for holiday lets until c2012.
  • Fish Court, Hampton Court Palace - owned by Historic Royal Palaces. Withdrawn from property portfolio in 2014.
  • The Harp Inn, Old Radnor, Powys
  • Higher Lettaford, North Bovey, Devon - sold in 2013 as no longer appropriate to the Trust's property portfolio
  • Hill House, Helensburgh - top floor flat returned to National Trust for Scotland in 2011.
  • The Master's House, Gladstone Pottery - The Gladstone Property Museum was transferred to Stoke-on-Trent Museums in 1994.
  • Meikle Ascog, Ascog, Argyll & Bute - sold in 2013 as no longer appropriate to the Trust's property portfolio
  • 30, St Mary's Lane, Tewkesbury - bought in 1969 and let to local tenants from 2006.
  • Wellbrook Beetling Mill, Cookstown, Co Tyrone - returned to National Trust

    • Other properties owned by the Trust

    In addition to properties let for Holiday rentals, the Trust has been bequeathed other properties which it has refurbished and managed in other ways. These include:

  • Dunshay Manor, Worth Matravers, Dorset - acquired 2010; let on 20 year lease 2013
  • Fountain Hotel, 92 High Street, Cowes, Isle of White - acquired 2010

    • Handbooks

    Details of each property available to rent are available online, on the Trust's website, and in a Handbook. Twenty-five editions of the Handbook have been published to December 2016:

    Archives

    The Landmark Trust Lundy Island Philatelic Archive was donated to the British Library Philatelic Collections in 1991 and is located at the British Library.

    References

    Landmark Trust Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA