204 LEGAL. [July 



i 



EGAL. 



THE VALUE OF LAND LN THE NEW FOREST. 



The Eael of Eavensworth v. The London and South-Western 



Eailway Company. 



THE London and South-Western Eailway Act of 1883, for the 

 construction of the Bournemouth direct extension line, 

 empowered the Company to pass through an estate of the Earl of 

 Eavensworth in the parishes of Hordle and Milton New Forest 

 villages, situate about five miles from the town of Lymington. 

 About 125 acres of nearly 148, the area of the estate, are 

 immediately affected by the construction of the proposed railway. 

 The Company made the Earl an offer of £300 for 3 acres, 1 rood, 

 2 poles, but this was refused, and eventually the matter was brought 

 before Under-Sheriff T. B. Woodham, Esq., and a jury, sitting in the 

 Town Hall, Lymington, on the 21st May last. 



Mr. Littler, Q.C., and Mr. E. W. Bullen were counsel for the 

 claimant, and Mr. Marriott, Q.C., M.P., appeared for the Eailway 

 Company. 



Mr. Littler, Q.C., in opening the case for the claimant, read a 

 report by Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, of the firm of Messrs. Farebrother, 

 Ellis, Clark, & Co., which stated that the portion of land lying to 

 the south of the line embraced an area of 125 acres, and was 

 acquired some years since by Lord Eavensworth, for the purpose of 

 adding to and beautifying the " Stanleys " estate belonging to Mrs. 

 Gunning Sutton, his mother-in-law, who had spared no pains or 

 expense in forming it into one of the most charming residential 

 estates on the south coast. Had it not Ijeen for this special pur- 

 pose, Lord Eavensworth, who owned vast estates in the north, would 

 never have purchased property in this neighbourhood. As, however, 

 it was settled that Stanleys was to become the property of Lady 

 Mary, his Lordship's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Gunning Sutton and Lord 

 Eavensworth acquired some of the small properties adjoining, intend- 

 ing eventually to purchase the whole of them, so that the estate 

 might be bounded on all sides by roads. Had not the Eailway 

 Company appeared on the scene, they would in due time have 

 succeeded in their object. The purchases were made by either of them 

 irrespective of which property the land adjoined, so that the two 

 estates now intersected one another in such a manner as to make it 



