FEATURE
'There were some
beautiful things here
in my grandfather’s
day but the house
has been refurbished
and refurnished since
then. There are not a
lot of treasures, just
what you see.'
70
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treasures and artefacts from
days gone by had long since
disappeared. Then the
arrival of Charles Seeley from
Nottingham in 1860 saw a
real turning point. Having
made his money from coal,
he initially bought Brook
House, and his son Charles
Junior then began buying up
land to such an extent it has
been suggested the family
was able to ride on their own
land from Brook all the way
to Newport. They bought
Mottistone Manor in 1870
for £26,000, but it was still a
farmhouse and it remained a
farmhouse.
Sir Charles Seeley
had three sons and the
youngest, Jack – Sir Charles’
grandfather - was featured
with his ‘War Horse’ Warrior
in the previous edition of
Island Life.
In 1926 Jack’s son John, a
trained architect, undertook
the refurbishment of the
house, which took nearly
three years. The first task was
to dig out by hand the 1,300
tons of earth that had fallen
on the back of the house.
No mechanical diggers in
those days, only shovels and
wheelbarrows!
As the house came to
life, one regular visitor was
Queen Mary, the wife of
King George V who stayed
there while her husband
sailed at Cowes Week. Sir
Charles smiled: “King George
only came here once and
apparently it was at the time
in the 1930s when it was
quite popular to try and
bomb Monarchs.
“As the King got out of his
car there was a rustle in the
bushes, so his security people
and the police dived in and
there was a poor little boy
scout with an early version of
a Box Brownie camera trying
to take a photograph!”
Jack died in 1947 and
the house and the estate
were inherited by John
who embarked on another
renovation in 1954, dividing
the house into three – the
family accommodation,
the Dower House and the
vicarage.
Further internal renovation
saw a bookcase transformed
into a room screen, a
magnificent feature and
probably just as it would
have looked in Elizabethan
times. Brian Thomas was
also commissioned to paint a
wonderful canvas of ‘Pilgrims
Progress’, which still covers
the walls of the lounge. It
was the only property of its
kind on the Island, and the
National Trust took it over
when John died in 1963, aged
63.
Sir Charles said: “My father
John Nicholson was still