Cheswardine Estate Sale
30th January 1918
This was the first major sale of Cheswardine Hall Estate property, before the end of the 1st World War.
This is a verbatim report from the Newport & Market Drayton Advertiser
The sale consisted of 557 acres 2 rods and 5 perches of land in both Shropshire and Staffordshire, comprising five farms, two small holdings, two enclosures of accommodation land and five cottages - this is equivalent to about 225 hectares. The estimated annual rent for these properties was £992 in 1918.
Why these properties were sold is currently unknown but further enquiries may resolve this question.
Using an internet based method calculating earnings, this would have achieved a rental income of about £165,000 per annum at today's prices. John Nix’s Farm Management Pocketbook 27th edition (1997) gives a figure of about £60.50 per acre for farms facing a rent review, which would give a lower figure of about £33,700 per annum.
The total sum realised for the sale of these properties was £24,380.34 in 1918, which is equivalent to about £851,000 in 2007 prices, or about £1,500 per acre, although agricultural land is making three or four times this value as of 2008. A value of about £6,000 per acre at 2009 prices excluding property, would give a current value of about £3,342,000.00, whilst a value of agricultural land including property at £7,500 per acre gives a value of about £4,177,500.
The catalogue for this important sale can be viewed here