Another Lost World

and Homelessness in Los Angeles

This week, I visited the Beaulieu Estate for the first time. It’s well known now as the home of the National Motor Museum but for me the real interest is in the history of the abbey that once stood there and the remains thereof.

The Abbey was founded by King John in 1204 and remained a house of prayer and devotion for three-hundred years before it was dissolved under Henry VIII and the estate sold to Thomas Wriothesley, the 1st Earl of Southampton, an unscrupulous character who was also instrumental in the rape and despoliation of Winchester Cathedral and the destruction of the shrine of St Swithun. The house and estate have been held by descendants of Wriothesley ever since. And it must be said that the present owner Baron Montague seems like a thoroughly nice chap.