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Castle's 'treasures' make £540k at auction

Caroline Robinson
BBC News, Devon
Courtesy of Dreweatts The outside of Powderham Castle. The castle is a light brown colour. In front of the castle is a garden with green grass and a pathway leading to the front of the castle. On the right the castle wall has a plant growing up it. There are bushes which have been trimmed in the garden. Courtesy of Dreweatts
Lord Charlie Courtenay says he hopes some of what was found in the castle's attic will be exhibited

Unusual "treasures" from a Devon castle's attic have been sold at auction for more than half a million pounds.

The Earl of Devon detailed some of the items discovered at Powderham Castle, which were auctioned on Tuesday, including canon and some pieces from China.

Lord Charlie Courtenay said: "We had a famous uncle who was the commander of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in about 1900, [he] went off to Peking during the Boxer Rebellion and managed to bring back a bunch of treasures from China including the carrying poles of the sedan chair of the last emperor of China."

The chair poles were expected to receive between £8,000 and £12,000 at auction but achieved £40,000, auctioneers Dreweatts said.

Courtesy of Dreweatts Chinese sedan chair poles, they are brown with painted designs on them in red and black paint. Courtesy of Dreweatts
Some of the items at auction included a pair of rare Chinese sedan chair-carrying poles of the last emperor of China

Lord Courtenay said the process of deciding what would stay and what would be auctioned had been "really fun".

He said it was "giving old objects new life".

"These things will be really interesting and will be an absolute star of the show in their home, whereas at Powderham they've been sitting sort of undisturbed in an attic for 60 or 70 years."

Courtesy of Dreweatts A cream book shelf with lots of old books. There is a cream chair in front of it with gold accents on the arms and frame of the chair. Courtesy of Dreweatts
Some chairs were auctioned, which Lord Courtenay said were distinct and very rare

Of the sedan chair poles, Lord Courtenay said: "We figured it's probably about time that they returned either to China or to some Chinese enthusiast rather than being hidden away in the corner of a castle in Devon."

He added: "There are so many things squirreled away in the castle attics and in the tops of the towers. There are a few real treasures."

He said items that would not be auctioned included a crusading coin of Jocelyn de Courtenay, which was found in a picture frame, and a banyan silk dressing gown that had belonged to the third viscount.

The auction on Tuesday achieved a total of £540,890, which will go towards restoring parts of the castle.

"We reroofed the castle during the pandemic, built the new welcome centre but there's a whole bunch of rooms that sort of require refreshing," Lord Courtenay said.

He added the upstairs library "got quite damaged a couple of years ago but [we] managed to do the major repairs and now we need to do the interiors.

"It's jobs like that, where you are sort of restoring heritage. And you know if we raise sufficient funds we'll be able to put some of those projects in place."

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