A joy to behold
Country Life UK|August 17, 2022
Mary Miers retraces the history of Sausmarez Manor and marvels at the beauty of the house and its subtropical gardens.
Mary Miers
A joy to behold

SCION of diplomats, admirals, generals, politicians, colonial governors and adventurers, sportsman and inventor Peter de Sausmarez is the latest in his illustrious line to leave a mark on Guernsey's most ancient manorial seat, Sausmarez Manor. The de Sausmarezs first came here as Seigneurs of the Fief de Sausmarez in the 13th century, but their connection with the place might have died out had Philip de Sausmarez (1710-47) not been serving on HMS Centurion when it seized the Nuestra Senora de Covadonga off the Philippines in 1743. Philip, who played a leading role in the capture, was put in command of the highly prized Spanish galleon and sailed it to Canton, where it was sold. The cargo-36 cartloads of gold, silver and other treasures plundered in Acapulco-was divided up among the key participants and so great was its value that the de Sausmarez fortunes were transformed.

When Philip was killed at the second Battle of Cape Finisterre, he left his money to his brother, on condition that he buy back Sausmarez Manor, which had passed out of the male line in the 16th century. Thus, in 1748, this younger branch of the family regained its ancestral home. Some years later, the leading sculptor Sir Henry Cheere, who had carved the marble monument to Philip in Westminster Abbey, was commissioned to make a unicorn and greyhound for the Sausmarez Manor gate piers. Heralding the main entrance on the St Martin's to St Peter Port road, these splendid armorial beasts trumpet the family's reconnection with its Guernsey roots.

この記事は Country Life UK の August 17, 2022 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Country Life UK の August 17, 2022 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

COUNTRY LIFE UKのその他の記事すべて表示
Save our family farms
Country Life UK

Save our family farms

IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
A very good dog
Country Life UK

A very good dog

THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
The great astral sneeze
Country Life UK

The great astral sneeze

Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why

time-read
3 分  |
November 27, 2024
'What a good boy am I'
Country Life UK

'What a good boy am I'

We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton

time-read
3 分  |
November 27, 2024
Forever a chorister
Country Life UK

Forever a chorister

The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death

time-read
4 分  |
November 27, 2024
Best of British
Country Life UK

Best of British

In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.

time-read
3 分  |
November 27, 2024
Old habits die hard
Country Life UK

Old habits die hard

Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves

time-read
4 分  |
November 27, 2024
It takes the biscuit
Country Life UK

It takes the biscuit

Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them

time-read
3 分  |
November 27, 2024
It's always darkest before the dawn
Country Life UK

It's always darkest before the dawn

After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat

time-read
4 分  |
November 27, 2024
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
Country Life UK

Tarrying in the mulberry shade

On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.

time-read
3 分  |
November 27, 2024