Seighford Hall legal action over sale of £5m Tudor overmantel dropped

Legal action to stop the sale of a rare Tudor artefact, valued at up to £5m, has been dropped.

Stafford Borough Council took action when an oak overmantel from Seighford Hall, bearing Elizabeth I's coat of arms, was put up for sale.

It applied for an injunction to stop the sale which it now says is not proceeding.

Auctioneers and the overmantel's owner hope to meet the council to discuss what happens next.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council had decided everyone involved now knew it would be wrong to put it up for sale.

"All parties are now aware that to sell it would be an offence so there is no longer a need for us to pursue a full injunction through the courts," council spokesman Will Conaghan said.

Michael Jones, from Whitchurch Auctions, said they and Andrew Potter, who found the artefact, wanted to sit down with the council to discuss what would happen to it next.

The overmantel - an ornamental structure above a mantelpiece, thought to be about 460 years old - had been expected to fetch between £1.9m and £5m at the sale.

But the local authority said there had been no listed building consent granted for the removal of the item from the Grade II-listed building and was granted a temporary injunction, under the Dealing in Cultural Objects (offences) Act.

Auctioneers have previously denied any wrongdoing and said the overmantel was on "the top of a bonfire" before it was saved.

They said the owner had planned to turn the piece, which is nearly 9ft (2.7m) wide, into a headboard before learning of its value.

Seighford Hall was built in the 16th Century and had been a nursing home before being left derelict for nearly 20 years.

The hall has been bought by a private firm which said this summer it planned to turn it into a luxury hotel.

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