8:40am Tuesday 8th May 2012
By Dan Bean
ANYONE wishing to literally lord it over their friends and family can do just that by becoming the official Lord of Carlton – providing they have £10,000 to spare.
The Lordship of the Manor of Carlton, near Selby, has been put up for sale at auction, and is the highest-priced title at the event, which also includes lordships in West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Essex and Kent.
The announcement of the sale, by Manorial Auctioneers in London, states: “The new Lords or Ladies of the Manors will be able to use the titles on their passports, cheque books, and credit cards, and they will be eligible for membership of the Manorial Society of Great Britain.”
The title is being sold by London-based Richard Grossman, whose family bought it at auction in 1954 from solicitors who had owned it since purchasing it from the Beaumont family in the late 19th Century, for the then-considerable sum of £1,000.
Robert Smith, executive chairman of the Manorial Society, said the private sale was already open, and there was usually a great deal of local interest in such titles.
Mr Smith said: “In the sense it’s as hereditary as your house, as to whether it’s passed on. It would have to be put in your will, and it can either be kept or sold.
“The Beaumonts spent a hell of a lot of money on Carlton Towers, and descendants still live there.”
Part of the sale will include “a considerable quantity of valuable manorial documents”, including court books, warrants of satisfaction, which date back to the early 1700s, and an annual reception of the Manorial Society at the House Of Lords.
Mr Smith said the sale is open to anyone interested enough to make an offer in the region of £10,000, although anyone worried that the title could go to foreign owners shouldn’t be too concerned just yet.
He said: “We just don’t know what sort of interest there will be.
“It’s quite a nice area and there are quite a lot of well-to-do people around there.
“These things tend to go to local people, partly to do with the sense of tradition, which is mainly a British thing. The Americans aren’t much in the market for titles these days.”
• Other available titles include, the Lordship of Newton (Lancashire/Yorkshire) – £6,750; Lordship of Wadsworth (West Yorkshire) – £5,950; Lordship of Golcar (West Yorkshire) – £5,750; Lordship of Lydiate (Lancashire) – £5,000 and the Lordship of Piccots (Essex) – £4,750.
© Copyright 2001-2013 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/trade_directory/