Imagine going out to buy dining chairs and coming home owning Stonehenge. An expensive mistake or an opportunity you couldn’t walk away from? Most of us have heard of Stonehenge. Far fewer know the story of the man who bought it at auction, apparently without intending to.
The Shopping Trip That Took an Unexpected Turn
On 21 September 1915, Cecil Chubb attended an auction at the Palace Theatre in Salisbury. According to the much-told legend, his wife had sent him to buy a set of dining chairs. A sensible, practical purchase. Something useful for the family home. But then came lot 15. Stonehenge, together with around 30 acres of surrounding land.
Chubb was a local barrister, born in the nearby village of Shrewton. From humble beginnings, he had gone on to study at Cambridge. By the time of the auction, he was living in Salisbury with his wife and two children. He knew the stones. He had grown up near them. But owning them? That was rather different.
Stonehenge had come onto the market following tragedy in the Antrobus family, who had owned it for generations. Their heir had been killed in the First World War, and his father died a few months later. The estate was divided into lots and offered for sale. An ancient monument was about to get a new owner.
A Collection of Stones in Need of TLC.
This wasn’t simply a case of buying a famous landmark and admiring the view. Stonehenge needed care. Over the years, visitors had chipped pieces off the stones to take home as souvenirs and scratched their names into them. Some stones had fallen. Others were supported by wooden props. There had already been attempts to protect and restore the monument. It had been fenced in during 1901, with an admission charge introduced to help pay for its care.
The sale also came with a practical obligation: the buyer had to put up and maintain fencing along any unfenced part of the western boundary. So Chubb wasn’t just buying stones. He was taking on responsibility. I wonder how many people in that room looked at lot 15 and saw an expensive problem compared to those seeing an opportunity.
An Unexpected Opportunity
For £6,600, Cecil Chubb became the owner of Stonehenge. The dining chairs, if that part of the story is true, would have to wait. We don’t have a recorded account of his wife’s reaction. I suspect that’s the conversation many of us would like to have heard.
What we do have is Chubb’s explanation to a reporter. He hadn’t gone there intending to buy the monument. But, as he put it, “I thought a Salisbury man ought to buy it”. He also said he hadn’t yet had time to think about his plans for it, although he intended to protect it. That is the part that interests me. He made the decision before he knew everything that would follow.
From an Unexpected Purchase to a Gift to the Nation
From that unexpected purchase, three years later, Chubb gave Stonehenge to the nation. The formal handover took place on 26 October 1918. In his letter offering the gift, he described the affection he had felt for the stones since childhood, having visited them in all sorts of weather, by day and by night. This was somewhere he had a personal connection with, long before his name appeared on the deeds. His gift helped secure its future, and major conservation work followed under the Office of Works.
In 1919, he was made a baronet in recognition of his generosity, becoming Sir Cecil Chubb. Locally, he was nicknamed “Viscount Stonehenge”. His coat of arms even included a trilithon: two upright stones supporting a third across the top. From humble beginnings to Cambridge, a career as a barrister, a wife and family, and then an unexpected purchase that would lead to him becoming Sir Cecil Chubb.
Quite a journey for someone who apparently only went out to buy dining chairs. Had he stuck to the original shopping list, we would probably never have heard of him.
When an Opportunity Doesn’t Come with a Plan
We all make mistakes. We all make choices. Sometimes opportunities arise that we weren’t looking for.
I can’t tell you whether Chubb felt a sudden intuitive nudge in that auction room. His own explanation was that he wanted a local man to buy it. But his story makes me think about those moments when something catches our attention and we feel drawn to act, even though we haven’t worked out exactly why.
Perhaps you’ve felt that about a course, a new hobby, a move or a change of direction. Then comes the question from someone else: “What do you want to do that for?” “Because I want to” can feel surprisingly difficult to defend. Especially when there is money involved, and other people have a much more practical idea of how you should spend it.
My Own Experience of Following a Gut Feeling
I learnt Reiki because I had a strong gut feeling that I wanted to – a soul calling. I had no plan to turn it into a business. A few year later, I invested some of my savings in a domain name and a website. While my daughter was at preschool, I wrote the content and met with the website developer. Some people thought I was wasting my time learning Reiki without a clear reason. Spending my savings on a website made even less sense to them.
What I couldn’t have known was how much those decisions would help me when I left the family home. Around the time she started infant school, I decided to work part time as a Reiki therapist, simply to see whether I liked it. My My Reiki business fitted perfectly around school hours, ideal as an unexpected single parent. My business grew as my daughter did and now she is at college.
Thanks to student reviews and recommendations, I have become a leading Cheshire Reiki teacher, teaching Reiki therapists, Masters and teachers from across the North West. I have also featured in the UK and Australian media. None of that was in a plan when I first decided to learn Reiki.
Looking back, I can see where that gut feeling led me. At the time, I could only explain that I wanted to follow it.
I wonder whether Cecil Chubb had a similar difficulty explaining why he had bought a collection of stones instead of some sensible dining chairs.
If you feel drawn to learn Reiki, visit my events page for the next Reiki training dates in Culcheth, Warrington, Cheshire, or call me on 07931 337 941.
Julia
