Spoils of War

Vernon is a small town of around 25,000 people in Normandy, on the banks of the Seine, about half way along its course from Paris to the sea at Le Havre. A man called William from the town accompanied William, duke of Orange Normandy, when he took by force the kingship of England, that he believed was his by right. William de Vernon was granted English land for his service and became the founder of a very large family that is almost an archetype of the English aristocracy - judiciously marrying and inter-marrying in order to acquire and conserve land, property and wealth

Over 400 years later, one of them, after just such a wealth-consolidating marriage, designed this house for himself, without (it is thought) the aid of an archetect, and caused it to be built. After another 500 years, it is still standing, so he must have had some degree of competence. Even on the drabest, greyest of days it was eye-catching enough to have me reaching for the brake pedal. The flat, dim light does it no favours at all. Also, I wanted a picture that shows the enormous scale, but you can only see the detail and complexity of the design by zooming in - which also shows a tiny figure standing in the enormous doorway

The building highlights two contemporary themes. It is now in the hands of the National Trust, handed over in lieu of tax. For much of the 20th century, a wealth tax was levied in the form of 'death duties', which returned a significant proportion of the accumulated assets of families like the Vernons to the wider economy via public expenditure. Taxation of inter-generational wealth transfer is now much less effective, but it remains an option under discussion as a way of funding the repair of our austerity-corroded country

The Trust have made a radical and innovative choice in how to best use the property. They took advice from 100 children on how to make a house like this interesting and relevant for them. They have implemented many of those ideas and now call this 'The Children's Country House. This has displeased the Vernon family, along with the reactionary campaigners within the Trust membership who think the organisation should represent and promote a narrow nationalist agenda and the approach to interpreting and using history that reflects their perspective. The class war and the culture war is happening here