|
Sutton House was built in 1449 by the 1st Lord of Shanditon, General Hubert Bartholomew Sutton, who was granted Lordship over the ancient English town of Shanditon for services rendered to the crown – namely the provision of slaves for Royal Navy Galleons. The Lordship of Shanditon was temporarily suspended in 1588 when it was discovered that Lady Trixabelle Sutton, the wife of the then Lord of Shanditon, had supplied slaves to the Spanish for use in the Armada. The Lordship was reinstated in 1598 when a cousin of the Queen married the daughter of the Lord of Shanditon. To circumvent laws against restoring the title to a disgraced peer, the Lordship of Shanditon was abolished and a new title, Lord Shandy, was created. The uproar in the House of Lords over this “bending of the rules” is reputed to have brought about the ill health that finally killed off the queen in 1601. The current Lord Shandy, Lord Andrew Sutton, was recently refused permission to build a go-kart track in the main banqueting room and convert the west wing into a ferret sanctuary. He now plans to float himself on the stock market to raise the funds for ambitious plans to transform the 17th century ornamental gardens into a shopping precinct and 2,000 space car park. Lord Sutton is renowned for his extended holidays and has spent so long holidaying in Sri Lanka that the Sri Lankan government have issued him with a passport and national insurance number. Lord Shandy owns a large number of properties in Sri Lanka, including the Jolly Happy Sailor Holiday Village - a complex of hotels and chalets on the east coast for American and European tourists hoping to see the legendary Sri Lankan Man-eating Jellyfish.
|
