Photo owned and reproduced with kind permission from Country House Postcards Facebook Page |
Postcards may be a dying art these days with the rise of social media, email and television, and especially the internet which allows us to research and see pictures of any place on the planet. However, some people do still enjoy picking up a postcard with beautiful images of the places they visit, writing a small greeting on the back, and sending it to friends or family.
In previous decades however, before cameras were as widely available and before televisions were in everyone’s homes, the only way for friends and family to be able to see where you had been on holiday would be for you to send them a postcard or to bring postcards back with you from your holiday. This did not just mean holidays abroad, this also applied to visits across the UK.
One of the trends of the early 20th century included purchasing and collecting country house post cards. These were photographs of the thousands of country houses across the UK. These post cards may have become lost in the annals of time were it not for the fact that in the first half of the twentieth century, the country house went into decline.
Houses were taken over for the war, sons did not return from war, the fashion for country house ‘parties’ were not as popular any more, servants began to think of other careers, and the economy changed to the point that country houses being run in the way they were during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, was no longer feasible.
In the 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, hundreds of country houses were abandoned by families who simply couldn’t afford the upkeep any more. Many of them suffered as a result of being commissioned and misused by the war office during the first and second world wars, and others were simply left closed and empty for decades. Decay as a result of poor maintenance occurred quickly and were eventually demolished when they had become a hazard or when the owner decided to sell the land. This is before buildings could be listed and protected.
Now, in the twenty first century there is an increasing popularity for country house postcards which can be bought at craft and antique fairs which document many of the UK’s lost country houses. These postcards may be some of the last images we have of some of the finest architectural buildings of the 19th and 20th century.
In the 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, hundreds of country houses were abandoned by families who simply couldn’t afford the upkeep any more. Many of them suffered as a result of being commissioned and misused by the war office during the first and second world wars, and others were simply left closed and empty for decades. Decay as a result of poor maintenance occurred quickly and were eventually demolished when they had become a hazard or when the owner decided to sell the land. This is before buildings could be listed and protected.
Now, in the twenty first century there is an increasing popularity for country house postcards which can be bought at craft and antique fairs which document many of the UK’s lost country houses. These postcards may be some of the last images we have of some of the finest architectural buildings of the 19th and 20th century.
These Longleat postcards are currently on sale on eBay:
Although as we know Longleat is not 'lost,' it gives you a good taste of what the postcards were like.
Let's instead have a look at some houses that we know are now 'lost' . . .
Anyone who lives in West Yorkshire knows about Saltaire and Salts Mill. The below house, Milner Fields was built for Titus Salt Jr. but the house was said to have terrible bad luck and was never a successful country house pile. It was completed around 1873 and demolished in the 1950's.
Both images from Pinterest |
These images are featured on and belong to www.lostheritage.org.uk which is one of my favourite websites on the internet! Please do go and check it out as it has many more photographs of lost country houses. . . you could get lost yourself looking at them all!
I hope you enjoyed this quick post . . . see you again soon! x
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