DURNFORD HOUSE. LANGTON TRAVERS DORSET.

Watercolour drawing, signed C.R.C., undated, but estimated to be circa 1920.

Image size: 7" x 10". Border size: 10" x 12 7/5.

Generally good condition - colour still bright, slight staining in the sky, but this does not detract from the whole. Laid on cartridge support.

A charming and delightfully, if slightly naive in its perspective, depiction of the main road of the village. Durnford House was converted from the Durneford family farm into a country house by the Serrells in 1725. The final member of that family to be in residence was Captain Serrell Roberts in the 1890s, following which it became Durnford Preparatory School. The headmaster was Thomas Pellatt whose famous daughter, born in 1899, became Tudor biographer Hester Chapman. The Air Ministry followed in the Second World War and Lady Savage was the subsequent private owner. Meanwhile, concealed in the leafy grounds of Langton House, Group 8 of the ‘most secret’ Telecommunications Research Establishment had developed and perfected H2S airborne ‘Town Finder’ radar for installation on Lancaster bombers. Its use was decisive in the devastation of German cities.

SOLD