A dispute over the sale of a coastal estate in Cornwall dubbed the “Battle of Trevalga” has come to an end with the picturesque plot sold to one of Britain’s largest property companies.
The site of six let farms and a further 17 houses and cottages was put on the market more than a year ago with a guide price of £15.75m.
Residents feared a sale would lead to their eviction and mounted a campaign against it. However, it emerged on Monday that the estate has been bought by the William Pears Group, a major financing and real estate group founded by the billionaire Pears family, which has reassured residents everyone will remain in their homes.
In a statement on behalf of the trustees, the estate agents Savills said: “The trustees of the Gerald Curgenven will trust confirm the sale of the estate of the Manor of Trevalga in north Cornwall to Castle Lane Securities Ltd, which is part of the William Pears Group.”
The 485-hectare (1,200-acre) estate was previously owned by Gerald Curgenven, a former pupil of Marlborough College, who left the land in his will to the private school in 1959 with an instruction to preserve it.
The will’s trustees argued the will was protected by archaic legislation and they should be able to sell the land because the estate was no longer viable.
One longstanding tenant, Peter Pracownik, said it was hoped the sale could prove to be a positive move. He added: “Their deal is to make sure everybody remains where they’ve always remained and all the repairs will be done.”
Residents describe Trevalga as a “unique place in Britain that has been left largely untouched by the modern world”.
It does not suffer from any light pollution and is said to have escaped the invasion of second-home owners and holiday lets.
Serena Patrick, the coordinator of the campaign against the sale, said its main aim had been to have the charitable objectives on the register of the Charity Commission amended to reflect Curgenven’s intentions.
However, the commission told them they were not able to intervene in the sale.
Patrick said residents had been fighting for more than just their own homes. She added: “It has not been developed, because of how Gerald Curgenven managed it in his lifetime. And after his death in 1959 it has been almost completely sheltered from the rise of modernism and development that has swept the entire country.
“It is a medieval parish that is largely unchanged – and a living piece of shared history.”
