Uncle Monty's Cumbrian Cottage Goes For A Song
Withnail and I’s “Crow Cragg” is Sold for £265,000 to Local Publican
Feb 22, 2009 Christopher Wilson
The bidding attracted film aficionados and property developers in equal number, as lovers of the film took the chance to exchange the script’s famous aphorisms before the gavel finally came down on a price of £265,000. The property - Sleddale Hall near Shap, Cumbria - is in need of extensive repair and is beset by a number of legal complications before it can be inhabited. A fact that didn’t seem to discountenance local publican and successful bidder Sebastian Hindley, who says he wants to make the property “accessible to everyone who makes a pilgrimage."
Withnail and I: Student Classic
Premiered in 1987, Bruce Robinson’s tale of two out of work luvvies (Richard E Grant’s eponymous Withnail and Paul McGann’s “I”) convalescing at Uncle Monty’s country farmhouse after a particularly deleterious drink, drugs and lighter fluid binge was met with stony silence on its cinematic release. In subsequent years the film’s mix of fine wine, decadent dialogue and joint rolling pyrotechnics found it an ardent audience among the country’s student population. As the riotous bidding room at the Berkeley Hotel, Knightsbridge testified this week, the film’s dialogue still looms large in the public consciousness.
Opening bids of £145,000 and £170,000 were met with a volley of Withnalian bon mots. “We’re not from London, you know?” and “Bring me the finest wines available available to humanity!” were heard as the rumbustious crowd warmed to the occasion. Breathless bidding - both from the room and over the telephone- meant the total reached £201,000 before Mr Hindley entered the fray. With someone adding caddishly “We’ll buy this place an install a f***king juke box!” and “I mean to have you even if it must be burglary”, Mr Hindley put an end to the proceedings with the last of seven bids in total. The winning bid – significantly in excess of competing ones – reflects Mr Hindley’s appraisal of the cultural significance the property holds.
Sleddale Hall: Cultural Icon
He suggested that Monty’s love den was on a cultural par with neighbouring Lake District property Dove Cottage, once home to Romantic poet William Wordsworth. The comparison is perhaps a little fanciful, but for lovers of the film the cottage remains the Mecca to which they make regular pilgrimages. Unoccupied since 1960, Sleddale has been owned in recent years by a number of different water companies, latterly United Utilities, from whom Mr Hindley purchased the property. With renovation costs expected to be in the region of £150,000 and a battle ahead to convince local authorities that the property has a "residential use", Crow Cragg's doors will remain closed sometime yet to "London types. Queer sorts."
Mr Hindley solicits your help and advice regarding Sleddale Hall. He can be contacted at seb@easternfells.info
Sleddale Hall, aka Crow Cragg from Withnail & I
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