The Loss of Country Houses and Estates Through the Destruction and Obscuring of Identity

Abstract

This essay considers the presentation of country houses which survive and are in use but where their original functions and purpose have been lost or altered. Although new uses can secure the survival of a house and the meaning of place, it can also lead to a loss of understanding which can be as destructive as physical loss. We need to ask what purpose these places have. How do houses which haven't lost bricks and mortar but which have certainly lost meaning find a place for the future? These questions are discussed using the case studies of Montacute House and Barrington Court in Somerset and the Cornish Estate of Godolphin.