The Onslow Estate Sale

Prior to the sale of the Onslow Estate in 1913, the Foley and Onslow families had owned the manors of Oxenhall and Newent for over 200 years. However by the 19th century, like many other landed gentry, the Onslow family were finding it very difficult to make ends meet due to various changed circumstances, including the waning of the iron industry on which they had previously relied. In spite of the family’s encouragement and investment in agricultural best practice, and other diversification such as brick making and canal building, the new inheritance laws, farming methods, and increased competition from imported meat and goods were among the many changes that led to big estates such as theirs finding their income could not match their expenditure.

By 1910 the Onslows decided to cut their losses and began to sell some of the estate. In 1910 the first part of the estate in Newent was sold - including Stardens, Newent Woods, and three farms: Newtown, Cugley and Blackhouse, leaving the remains of the Onslow Estate to be sold over two days in July 1913.

However, this in turn produced new opportunities for tenant farmers in the parish to bid for and purchase their own farms, cottages, gardens and enclosures, and become property owners in their own right. More detail about the background history surrounding the ‘Sale of the Century’ can be found via the button below.