#935, Alan SHELTON-AGAR

Head of the gentry family of Melmerby Hall in Cumbria.  He was Marion's first husband.  Later she became Mrs Burrows

Dr Shelton-Agar bought Melmerby Hall in 1958.  When he died his wife continued to live there.  Both Dr Shelton-Agar and his wife are buried on the estate.  In 2002 The Telegraph published details of the rather costly dispute over Dr Shelton-Agar's will following his death in 1985.  The £800,000 estate is set in the foothills of the north Pennines in an area of oustanding natural beauty.  The nine-bedroom property is surrounded by 20 acres of forested grounds with a small tributary of the River Eden running through it.  Dating from 1307, the estate boasts many unusual features, including an archery lawn, a Victorian castle folly and Roman barrel-vaulted cellars.  The property is now let as a holiday home and can be rented for three nights at a cost of £1629.  For years the siblings, Charles, Anne and Richard have been in dispute over various parts of the estate, including a donkey pasture, a former servants' cottage and the village green in Melmerby.  Dr Shelton-Agar left the majority of his estate, including Melmerby Hall and his lordship of the manor rights, to his daughter, Anne Rowley, Charles and Richard being left smaller lrgacies.