The Observer (2022-01-09)

The Observer

News 09.01.22 3

Shock of the old: villagers

outraged by Hirst’s £3m

‘white elephant’ manor

Toddington parish

council takes on world’s

richest artist over

Cotswolds ‘eyesore’

When Damien Hirst bought a historic
manor in the Cotswolds he had grand
plans. The crumbling 19th-century
Toddington Manor , which the world’s
richest artist bought for £3m in 2005 ,
would be restored to its former glory,
turned into his family home and a
spectacular gallery for his personal
art collection.
But 17 years after its purchase, the
property remains uninhabited and
covered in scaffolding and tarpau-
lin. Locals have branded it an “eye-
sore,” a “white blob” and “a blight on
the countryside”.
Frustrated local residents in

Toddington, 10 miles east of

Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, are

now taking matters in their own

hands. This week the parish coun-

cil will meet to come up with a plan

that it hopes will force Hirst to fi nally

make good on his promise to restore

the property.

“We want to see what can be done,

if anything at all,” said Toddington

parish council’s chairman, Nigel

Parker. “It is one of the biggest eye-

sores in the area. People are fed up

with it. Damien Hirst has had this

property for 17 years now, but it is still

clad in scaffolding and tarpaulin, and

as far as we can tell there is no resto-

ration in sight.”

Hirst found fame in 1992 when

his pickled tiger shark proved to

be the centrepiece of the acclaimed

Young British Artists exhibition at the

Saatchi gallery. A sliced cow and calf ,

and pickled sheep followed in quick

succession, but Hirst’s twin obses-

sion with death and publicity perhaps

reached its apogee with his contro-

versial 2007 platinum skull encrusted

with diamonds , which he claimed

sold for £50m.

Hirst’s work – and the prices it

sold for – became synonymous with

the new wealth of the late 1990s

and 2000s. This reached a climax in

September 2008 with the sale of more

than 200 of his artworks at Sotheby’s

for a total of $200m – on the same

day that Lehman Brothers collapsed,

sparking a global fi nancial crisis.

When Hirst bought the sprawl-

ing estate in Gloucestershire, which

bankrupted the family that built it,

locals were told that it was destined to

be his family home and a spectacular

gallery for his personal art collection.

But in the wake of his split in 2012

from his long-term partner Maia

Norman, the mother of his three sons,

the project has stalled, with locals

complaining they have been kept in

the dark.

The property is on Historic

England’s “at risk” register and the

heritage organisation said it was

intending to work with Tewkesbury

borough council “to encourage

the owner” to press ahead with

the restoration.

Malle Hague, who lives near the

manor, said: “I wish he would bloody

well get on with it. It would be nice

if he could at least camoufl age this

white blob. He’s an artist – he could

just paint it.

“It is a blight on the countryside.

This is an area of outstanding natural

beauty but you can see this for miles.

At the start he did a lot of good work

but this has gone on too long now.”

Completed in 1840, Toddington

Manor took 21 years to construct. It

was built by Charles Hanbury-Tracy

MP, later Lord Sudeley, and the scale

of the undertaking would eventually

bankrupt his family in 1893.

It is one of the earliest examples

of what became known as Victorian

gothic , and when Sudeley helped to

select Charles Barry to rebuild the

Houses of Parliament, the architect

reportedly took Toddington as one

of his models.

Councillor John Evetts, chair of

Tewkesbury council’s planning

committee, said: “It’s been a hell

of a long time since he bought it. I

am told Hirst has never applied for

planning permission.

“As the chair of the local planning

committee, as far as I am aware he

has never spoken to us. I work in res-

toration and conservation and I think

it could cost £50m to restore and still

not be fi nished. As far as I am aware

there have been no further planning

approaches or further permissions

granted. It appears he has just aban-

doned it or got bored with it. It is the

biggest white elephant I have ever

seen. ‘Folly’ would be a good word.”

Bert Alvis , a local farmer and par-

ish councillor, complain ed that his

repeated inquiries to the estate man-

agement company had failed to elicit

any answers.

“I have asked the agent, which

manages the estate, and they have

no idea. We heard he was going to

use it as a private house and pri-

vate gallery for his collection,” he

said. “But after the crash, everything

stopped. It is odd: no one is telling

anybody anything.”

Last year it emerged that the

artist, who is reportedly worth

£315m, had taken out £15m in

Covid loans and furloughed staff at

taxpayers’ expense.

In 2018 it was revealed that Hirst

was closing down his high-profi le

restaurant in Ilfracombe, Devon , just

a year after he had shut his gallery in

the town.

This was billed as part of a restruc-

turing of his sprawling Science Ltd

empire but also drew some local crit-

icism that the artist had left some

properties vacant.

A Tewkesbury council spokesman

said it was “satisfi ed there are inten-

tions to repair it”. But he added that

there were no current planning appli-

cation listed and “we are not aware of

any work that has taken place”.

Parker, chair of the parish council,

said: “After the meeting we may write

to Damien Hirst and his representa-

tives, or it may be that Tewkesbury

will. But, either way, it is time this

was resolved.”

Hirst’s representative did not

respond to requests for a comment.

ABOVE

Toddington

Manor awaits

restoration. Colin

Underhill/Alamy

The 7th Lord

Sudeley, whose

ancestors built

the house. Alamy

Damien Hirst at the
opening of his Cherry
Blossoms show in Paris
last year.
Ed Alcock/the Observer

Adam Luck