Decline
The Darnley family sold off the hall in the 1950s though they kept the mausoleum and some of the land. Without the gamekeeper maintaining security the building became prone to vandalism. On 5 November 1980 an arson attack in the crypt brought down the chapel floor. It continued to decline, and schemes proposed included moving it to Shorne Wood Country Park, or the United States and major extensions to form a large classical house. These came to nothing. In the same period vandalism and joy-riding of stollen cars became endemic in the wooded landscapes, making it effectively out-of-bounds to mainstream users.
Read more about this topic: Darnley Mausoleum
Famous quotes containing the word decline:
“The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time.”
—Luis Buñuel (1900–1983)
“I rather think the cinema will die. Look at the energy being exerted to revive it—yesterday it was color, today three dimensions. I don’t give it forty years more. Witness the decline of conversation. Only the Irish have remained incomparable conversationalists, maybe because technical progress has passed them by.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)
“The decline of a culture
Mourned by scholars who dream of the ghosts of Greek boys.”
—Stephen Spender (1909–1995)