Shropshire library's treasures up for auction
Books dating back to the 15th century went under the hammer as the library of a historic Shropshire house went up for sale.
The library of Hawkstone Hall, near Hodnet, was packed with historical, religious and philosophical texts dating from 1520 to 1900 – and they were up for grabs at Trevanion and Dean auctioneers' salesroom in Whitchurch over the weekend.
In total, the contents raised more than £15,000, auctioneer Christina Trevanion said.
"It was a once-in-a-life time opportunity to get your hands on a text from one of Shropshire's most prestigious properties," she said.
Hawkstone Hall is a Grade I listed 18th century mansion once owned by various members of Parliament, including General Rowland Hill, whose statue stands atop Lord Hill's column in Shrewsbury. But it has been owned for the past 90 years by The Redemptorists, a Roman Catholic missionary congregation.
Christina said: "The sale went fantastically well, we were absolutely delighted, but it was a lot of hard work as there were an awful lot of ancient texts."
She said the top-selling lot was a book on the Holy Land from 1855, with 250 plates and maps by David Roberts.
"The binding is just beautiful," she said. "It was also really nice to have some local history as part of it – we had a book of hymns and psalms from the chapel at Hawkstone signed by Lord Hill himself which went for £220."
