15. It was bought at an auction in 1915
In September 1915, Cecil Chubb was sent off to Salisbury to buy some chairs at an auction by his wife. But when he returned, Chubb was not carrying beautiful Chippendale furniture. Instead, he had decided to buy a 30-acre prehistoric monument ‘on a whim’ for £6, 000 (£474, 000 in today’s money) as a present for Mrs. Chubb. Quite what he expected Mary to do with it is unclear, but either way she was none too happy with it. Three years later, Chubb decided to give Stonehenge as a present to the nation, an act which earned him a knighthood.
At the auction, Chubb had been moved by the auctioneer’s admonishing words, ‘gentlemen, it is impossible to value Stonehenge’. Chubb ‘thought a Salisbury man ought to buy it’, and we are all reaping the benefit of his impulsive actions today. But the gift he made to the nation came with strings attached. Chubb demanded that local residents should be allowed to visit Stonehenge for free, and capped the entrance fee at a shilling. Sadly, although locals are still allowed free entrance, the shilling-entrance fee was scrapped in the 1970s by English Heritage, who now charge nearly £20 per visitor. Ouch.
