A collection of rare stained glass windows featuring the heraldry of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn were pulled from a private auction at Duke’s auction house in the United Kingdom after Historic England, the UK’s public body that oversees historic cultural sites, raised concerns about how they were obtained, according to the Guardian.
Experts had tipped off Historic England to the possibility that the stained-glass roundels of heraldic glass and a coat of arms had been removed from the windows.
The glass was taken from Sandford Orcas, an historic 73-acre manor that is going up for sale itself. It is the first time since 1736 that the manor has been put up for purchase and is expected to go for £6.5 million.
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One of the windows is thought to have come from Nonsuch Palace, which King Henry VIII used as a home base in southeastern England. Only the foundations of Nonsuch remain, but the glass that decorated the palace has been found in grand manors and homes across England.
Sandford Orcas is located in Dorset, in southwestern England. According to the Dorset local authority, the roundels and coat of arms were removed “despite being considered part of the listing”; removal would need consent from building.
A spokesperson from Duke’s told the Guardian that the roundels and the coat of arms were not fixed in the widows but rather hung from wires, a fact that Historic England knew prior to being contacted by the Dorset Council. The spokesperson said he had “no idea why [they] chose to ignore the advice and requested the stained glass be withdrawn from the auction.”
Duke’s will continue to work with heritage and cultural bodies to resolve the matter, the Guardian reports.
Sandford Orcas is among the most haunted homes in England and has been described as “an eerie-looking building, the grey stone walls of which give the appearance of being every inch the haunted house of tradition.” Among the specters who are thought to be permanent guests of the manor are a farmer, a footman, three ladies, and, a young man fascinated by stained glass.