Opening The Manor House Door - Beyond Downton Abbey: A Guide to 25 Great Houses - page 2

or house lifestyle reached its zenith during the 18 th and 19 th centuries when the old landed
families and the new captains of industry enjoyed their wealth, looked after by a retinue
of servants. The Edwardian era — 1900 to 1914 — marked a last brief, shining moment
for the manor house lifestyle and ushered in a quick and serious decline for many historic
houses.
The British ruling class survived and thrived for a thousand years. What was their formula
for success? The titled class owned over half of all the land in the country; and more land
equated to more power and resulted in more wealth, with tenants on the land paying rents
to the landowners.
Among the ruling class, breeding was paramount in matters of family, horses and dogs.
Generations of British aristocracy dominated the economy, politics, culture and society.
Since by law the land could not be sold, only inherited through an established system called
primogeniture (first son inherits all), few ever imagined how quickly the aristocracy would
unravel.
The national power structure began to shift, triggered by the loss of a significant portion of
a generation of British men from all classes. The shift was fueled by Suffragettes seeking
female equality and stoked by the emergence of the Labor party pushing for better pay and
working conditions. By World War II, the British aristocracy was a shell of its former self,
much as the great houses — an emblem of its wealth — were falling into decline.
In the mid-1940s, country houses in Britain were being demolished at a rate of up to one
per week. Although many stately homes were lost to decay and development during the
mid-20 th century, hundreds were rescued by individuals and by organizations such as Eng-
lish Heritage, the National Trust, the Heritage Conservation Trust, and the Historic Houses
Association. Still other homes have continued to be owned by new generations of aristo-
cratic families, keen on sustaining their properties by opening them to the public or adding
new commercial enterprises. In today's world, inheritors of great estate houses often find
themselves asset rich (with huge, exquisite homes and vast lands), but cash poor (facing
monumental maintenance costs, operating challenges and tax bills).
The stories that make us want more
Many Britons and Anglophiles alike continue to be enthralled with these special places
and their architectural wonders, gardens, estate parks, furnishings and art. But clearly, even
more fascinating are the people who inhabited these great homes and the relationships
among masters and the serving class. In Britain, curiosity about those relationships is un-
derstandable. Setting aside the gentry class, a wide swath of the population can trace family