Saturday, January 25, 2020

G.K. Chesterton's Beaconsfield home threatened with demolition

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From the Bucks Free Press:
The former home of famous writer and philosopher G K Chesterton could be bulldozed and replaced with flats – in a move branded “shameful” by angry Beaconsfield residents. 
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, best known for the Father Brown detective novels, moved to Beaconsfield with his wife Frances in 1909 and lived in Grove Road until his death in 1937 – first at Over Roads and then across the road at Top Meadow. 
Now, Over Roads, to which fans of the prolific writer flock every year, could be knocked down and replaced with nine apartments.
The National Catholic Register gives the history of Chesterton's two Beaconsfield homes:
In their will, the Chestertons left both houses, Overroads and Top Meadow, to the local Catholic diocese. They requested that the property be used as a seminary, a convent, or as a temporary resting place for Anglican clergymen who had converted to Catholicism. 
For a number of years, this was indeed how Top Meadow was used. Eventually, however, the diocese sold both properties. Today, both houses are privately owned. 
Over Roads or Overroads, I hope it will be saved.

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