190-year-old Welsh mansion sold – for £1
Astunning Welsh mansion which is worth millions of pounds has been sold – for just £1.
The 190-year-old Shire Hall in Prestigne, Powys, stands in the centre of the town.
It includes court rooms and lodgings and was once hailed as the “most commodious and elegant” judges’ accommodation in England and Wales.
But the judges left after the final sitting of Radnorshire Assizes 46 years ago.
The building has been sold for no more than £1 so that the luxurious mansion can be developed as a tourist attraction.
It has been used for the past 20 years as a museum and tourism centre which attracts 11,000 visitors a year.
But owners Powys county council has now sold the freehold to the Judge’s Lodging Trust charity for the nominal sum.
Shire Hall was been transformed back to its mid-Victorian times and features original furniture, glassware, silverware and portraits.
Samples of paintwork from the woodwork in each room were used to match new paints and after all the Victorian papers had been stripped off the walls in the past, replica wallpapers were chosen to reflect the original colours.
All the rooms within the lodgings have been furnished with new carpets – all copied from Victorian originals – as well as new curtains.
And the carpet in the drawing room copies the original with a large hole cut from it.
A council spokesman said: “The transfer to the trust will ensure the future of the museum in the long term.” Local businessman Tom Evans added: “It’s one of the finest buildings in Mid Wales and it’s great news that it has its future secured. “For £1 it must be the bargain of the century so far.”