HC Deb 26 February 1958 vol 583 c50W
Mr. Geoffrey Hirst

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how far works of art, accepted in settlement of Estate Duty, have been transferred to London or preserved in houses outside London and, in particular, whether any have yet been transferred from Hardwick Hall. Derbyshire.

Mr. Simon

No works of art have been, or are to be, transferred from Hardwick Hall to London. Like the great majority of other works of art so far accepted in settlement of Estate Duty, the contents of Hardwick Hall are being accepted under Section 30 of the Finance Act, 1953, the express intention of which is that the objects in question should remain associated with the particular house or building with which they have been connected.

Collections of works of art, etc., in the following other houses have been accepted and preserved under the Finance Act, 1953, in the building with which they were associated:—

  1. (1) Buckland Abbey: banners associated with Sir Francis Drake.
  2. (2) Petworth House. Sussex.
  3. (3) Ickworth House, Suffolk.
  4. (4) Saltram House, near Plymouth.
Several other cases under the Finance Act, 1953, are at present under consideration or in negotiation.

Eight works of art offered by the Chatsworth Trustees and the "Pieta" of Van der Weyden offered by Lord Powis have been housed in the national collections in London after acceptance in settlement of Estate Duty.