Savvy landowner 'saves' Tudor manor by installing solar panels

August 24, 2022

Savvy landowner installs solar panels on sprawling Tudor manor to ‘save’ it from being shut by £50,000-a-year energy bills by reducing them to ‘near zero’

Economist Giles Keating bought Athelhampton House in Dorset in 2019 and removed all the oil burners
Permission granted for 400 solar panels to be built on 500-year-old estate with ground-source heat pumps
Grade I-listed home would have had to either increase its admission charges or close to the public

The savvy owner of a sprawling Tudor manor has installed solar panels to avoid rising energy bills that saw him paying £50,000 a year.

Economist Giles Keating bought Athelhampton House in Dorset in 2019 and removed all the oil burners, gas ovens and boilers in favour of renewable energy sources in a bid to become carbon neutral.

Permission was granted for 400 solar panels to be built on the 500-year-old estate while ground-source heat pumps were also installed.

With energy bills spiralling out of control, the Grade I-listed stately home, which is also a popular tourist attraction and was featured in the Michael Caine film Sleuth, would have had to either increase its admission charges or close to the public.

Athelhampton House, which has 50 rooms, was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and also inspired the setting of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Far From the Madding Crowd.

Economist Giles Keating bought Athelhampton House in Dorset in 2019 and removed all the oil burners, gas ovens and boilers in favour of renewable energy sources in a bid to become carbon neutral

Permission was granted for 400 solar panels to be built on the 500-year-old estate while ground-source heat pumps were also installed

Prior to installing the renewable technology the owners ‘burned through oil’ trying to heat the grand manor which does not have double glazing.

The solar panels, which are nestled behind trees on the sprawling 20 acre grounds, produce excess energy which is stored in Tesla batteries overnight.

Meanwhile the state-of-the-art pumps absorb heat from the ground and surrounding atmosphere and circulate it through the building.

Mr Keating, a millionaire economist, said: ‘Our carbon emissions from energy use were 100 tonnes a year – now they’re zero.

‘That’s like saving 2,400 return journeys by car every year from London to Bournemouth.

‘Athelhampton House has around 50 rooms, a stable building with restaurant, holiday cottage and offices – without renewables, the energy bill would be well over £50,000 a year, with them it’s near zero.’

To install the necessary technology they had to get planning permission from Dorset Council.

There were no objections to the adaptations provided the changes were subtle and did not visibly alter the Grade I listed building and gardens.

Athelhampton House, which has 50 rooms, was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and also inspired the setting of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Far From the Madding Crowd

Prior to installing the renewable technology the owners ‘burned through oil’ trying to heat the grand manor which does not have double glazing

Without the green energy, Owen Davies, manager of the property, said they would have been forced to vastly inflate entry prices for the public.

He said: ‘If we had not converted to renewable energy I think we would have been looking down the barrel of a gun.

‘Deciding to be more environmentally friendly meant that we got rid of our oil burners and gas cookers.

‘The insulation was so bad that we were effectively trying to heat the planet when we were burning that fuel.

‘When we were paying for gas it was around 19p a unit but now it has doubled to 45p.

Without the green energy, Owen Davies, manager of the property, said they would have been forced to vastly inflate entry prices for the public

The solar panels, which are nestled behind trees on the sprawling 20 acre grounds, produce excess energy which is stored in Tesla batteries overnight

Meanwhile the state-of-the-art pumps absorb heat from the ground and surrounding atmosphere and circulate it through the building

‘I think even in 2019 Mr Keating was very aware that energy was rapidly becoming a valuable commodity.

‘I am very lucky that I get to manage the estate without the worry of rising prices hanging over me.

‘In that respect it was a magnificent decision, we have been very fortunate.

‘It really is amazing what renewable energy can do and the government needs to do more to encourage it.’

The Tudor manor house at Athelhampton was built in 1485 during the reign of Henry VII by Sir William Martyn, who was the Lord Mayor of London.

In Victorian times, Thomas Hardy initially worked on it as a stonemason while apprenticed to an architect.

In his 1874 novel Far From the Madding Crowd, he used the grand manor house as Weatherbury Farm, which belonged to the main character Bathsheba.

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