This month we lost another gargoyle off the roof of Knebworth House – smashed to the gravel below, a victim of the ravages of time and the weather. It is a stark reminder that 45% of the house remains in perilous condition. English Heritage has generously offered a grant to tackle the particularly bad upper level of the western central elevation – but in order to accept it, The Knebworth House Education and Preservation Trust needs to find matching funds which it does not have (without crippling its annual operating budget). We have offered to donate to the charity proceeds from the development of the only land on Knebworth Estate that is not in Greenbelt – two small paddocks in Stevenage Borough – but it remains to be seen whether that is an acceptable option or whether it can be achieved before the offer of the grant is lost. Either way, repairing this month’s fallen masonry is not an option – it is part of the eastern central elevation.
Happier news is the response to The Knebworth House Education and Preservation Trust’s schools’ story writing competition. The challenge to 7 to 11 year olds was to write a short story beginning with Edward Bulwer Lytton’s classic line, “It was a dark and stormy night,,,” The 1st Prize entry wins a day in Knebworth Park for the author’s whole class. The competition has had a phenomenal response from all over Hertfordshire – the standard of the entries has been very high and it has been a tough task for the judges to choose a shortlist of 12, let alone a winner. Maybe this can become an annual “Bulwer Lytton Competition” to challenge the scurrilous one in California that mocks bad opening lines – clearly “It was a dark and stormy night…” has moved beyond cliché, to classic, to inspiration!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com