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On 21 September 1915, a British lawyer named Cecil Chubb went to an auction in Salisbury, England, reportedly hoping to buy furniture. In 1915, he attended the sale at the Palace Theatre in Salisbury, and the account describes him as someone who went along to pick up furniture. Because chubb handed the stones to the nation, the purchase began as a whim and ended as one of the most generous gifts of heritage in British history,.
His winning bid was six thousand six hundred British pounds, according to the History website. He went to the auction as he wanted to buy dining chairs, according to History. He came home as the owner of Stonehenge, the mysterious Neolithic monument in southern England. Here is how a furniture trip turned into the strangest property deal. Chubb was born only a few miles from Stonehenge.
Prime Minister David Lloyd George rewarded the gift in 1919 by naming him Sir Cecil Chubb, First Baronet of Stonehenge.
The deed attached three requirements, according to History. In the same year, the British government began a major renovation, straightening stones and setting them in concrete. The public would be admitted for a modest fee, the monument would be preserved as closely as possible to its existing state, and new construction nearby would be tightly restricted.
A winning bid of 6,600 pounds on a whim, and a wife who expected household items
History reports that Chubb said he had not planned to bid on Stonehenge at all. In a newspaper interview, he explained that, once in the room, he felt a Salisbury man ought to buy it. His wife, Mary, reportedly expected him to return with household goods and was less than pleased with the surprise.
