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Speaker 1: The day in history class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: heart radio. Hello and welcome to this day in history class,

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Speaker 1: a show that proves there's more than one way to

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Speaker 1: make history. I'm Gabe Louzier, and today we're looking at

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Speaker 1: a turning point in the life of one of Europe's

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Speaker 1: most ancient and mysterious monuments, the day when a British

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Speaker 1: lawyer bought Stonehenge as a gift for his wife. The

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Speaker 1: Day was September twenty one fifteen. At an auction in Salisbury, England,

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Speaker 1: Cecil Chubb placed the winning bid for the Stonehenge Monument. Chub,

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Speaker 1: a wealthy local of Wiltshire County, paid sixty six hundred

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Speaker 1: pounds for the ownership rights, the equivalent of just under

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Speaker 1: nine hundred thousand dollars today. That's a shockingly low price

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Speaker 1: for what's probably the world's most famous prehistoric monument, and

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Speaker 1: Chub must have thought it was a good deal too.

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Speaker 1: He hadn't come to the auction with the intention of

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Speaker 1: buying Stonehenge, and apparently he only made the purchase on

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Speaker 1: a whim. But however impulsive his bidding may have been,

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Speaker 1: it wound up having a profound impact on the care

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Speaker 1: and protection of Stonehenge. In fact, without chubbs somewhat random intervention,

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Speaker 1: the ancient monument might not have survived the present day.

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Speaker 1: The auction catalog estimated that Stonehenge was built sometime around

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Speaker 1: eighteen hundred BC. However, it's now thought that construction began

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Speaker 1: even further back, possibly as long ago as three thousand BC. Then,

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Speaker 1: around fifteen hundred BC, the large Sarson stones were arranged

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Speaker 1: into their present shape, essentially a giant stone circle surrounding

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Speaker 1: an inner horseshoe. The auction catalog also took a stab

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Speaker 1: at guessing the meaning behind Stone Oonnehenge, describing it as, quote,

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Speaker 1: a place of sanctity dedicated to the observation or adoration

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Speaker 1: of the Sun. That's about as good a guess as

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Speaker 1: any as the true purpose of Stonehenge is still a mystery.

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Speaker 1: Some historians theorized the site may have functioned as a

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Speaker 1: royal burial ground, while others think it may have been

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Speaker 1: used for religious ceremonies, healings or rituals. There's also the

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Speaker 1: possibility it was a kind of scientific tool, possibly a

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Speaker 1: way to predict eclipses or other celestial alignments. Whatever the

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Speaker 1: true case, it took an absurd amount of labor to excavate, transport,

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Speaker 1: arrange and erect the heavy stones, so whoever put them

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Speaker 1: there definitely did so for a reason. By now you're

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Speaker 1: probably wondering why such an intriguing public monument was being

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Speaker 1: auctioned off in the first place. But here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: Stonehenge wasn't always open to the public like it is today.

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Speaker 1: It first fell into private ownership in fifteen forty, when

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Speaker 1: King Henry the eighth confiscated the monument and the land

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Speaker 1: it sits on from the monks who had served as

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Speaker 1: its caretakers. From there, stonehenge changed hands a few times

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Speaker 1: until the early eighteen twenties, when it was purchased by

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Speaker 1: the antrobus family of Cheshire. For the next nine decades,

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Speaker 1: the monument stayed in the family, passed down from one

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Speaker 1: generation to the next. It gradually fell into disrepair along

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Speaker 1: the way, with people routinely stopping by to etch their

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Speaker 1: names into the stones or to chip off pieces to

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Speaker 1: keep as souvenirs. The British government offered on several occasions

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Speaker 1: to help protect the site, but the family always turned

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Speaker 1: them down. The owners changed their tune, though, after a

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Speaker 1: violent storm on New Year's Eve nineteen hundred that knocked

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Speaker 1: down one of the monument's large standing stones. When that

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Speaker 1: column fell over, so did the horizontal stone resting on

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Speaker 1: top of it. That support beam cracked in half, making

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Speaker 1: it the first stonehenge casualties since the antroppus family had

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Speaker 1: taken possession of it. Not long after, Sir Edmund Antropus,

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Speaker 1: the fourth generation air of the monument, tried selling it

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Speaker 1: to the government for fifty thousand pounds, or approximately seven

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Speaker 1: point eight million dollars today. The government refused to pay

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Speaker 1: such a high price for a now damaged monument, especially

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Speaker 1: since they'd previously offered to help prevent that kind of

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Speaker 1: damage for free. Around the same time, people began sneaking

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Speaker 1: onto the antropus property to see the broken stone for themselves.

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Speaker 1: The family took notice of the TRESPASSER's interest and figured

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Speaker 1: that if they couldn't make a profit by selling the monument,

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Speaker 1: they could at least put a fence around it and

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Speaker 1: start charging folks to see it. On the plus side,

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Speaker 1: turning stonehenge into a for profit attraction encouraged the family

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Speaker 1: to take better care of their showpiece. Soon antiquarians were

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Speaker 1: allowed to help care for and restore the monument for

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Speaker 1: the first time in nearly a hundred years. Fourteen years later,

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Speaker 1: in Nineteen fifteen, Sir Edmund Antrobus was killed in combat

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Speaker 1: during the early months of World War One. Since Sir

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Speaker 1: Edmund had no children of his own, his considerable estate

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Speaker 1: was slated to be sold at auction on September twenty

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Speaker 1: one of that year. The event was held at Salisbury's

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Speaker 1: Palace Theater in Wiltshire County and was said to be

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Speaker 1: well attended. Among the many bidders was a local barrister

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Speaker 1: named Cecil Chub. He allegedly came to the auction on

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Speaker 1: a mission from his wife to purchase a set of

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Speaker 1: dining chairs, though some sources claim it was actually curtains.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't really matter in the end, though, because what

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Speaker 1: Chub wound up buying definitely wasn't whatever his wife had

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Speaker 1: asked for. According to a local newspaper, interest quickened when

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Speaker 1: auctioneer Sir Howard Frank announced lot number fifteen, the stonehenge

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Speaker 1: monument and about thirty acres of adjoining land. Bidding began

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Speaker 1: at five thousand pounds and proceeded in increments of hundreds

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Speaker 1: before grinding to a halt at six thousand pounds. The

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Speaker 1: auctioneer was borderline offended, so he took a moment to

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Speaker 1: remind the room what was at stake. He said, quote, gentlemen,

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Speaker 1: it is impossible to value stonehenge. Surely six thousand pounds

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Speaker 1: is poor bidding, but if no one bids me anymore,

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Speaker 1: I shall set it at that price. Will no one

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Speaker 1: give me any more than six thousand pounds for Stonehenge?

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Speaker 1: The stern rebuke earned another round of bids, driving the

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Speaker 1: price up another five hundred pounds. The auctioneer was just

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Speaker 1: about to drop the gavel on that still unimpressive price,

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Speaker 1: but at the last moment Cecil Chubb chipped in with

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Speaker 1: another hundred. The gavel fell and Stonehenge was sold for

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Speaker 1: the price of just sixty six hundred pounds. Chub later

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Speaker 1: told reporters that he hadn't sent out to buy the

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Speaker 1: An and monument, but that quote. While I was in

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Speaker 1: the room, I thought a Sulisbury man ought to buy it,

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Speaker 1: and that is how it was done. Believe it or not,

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Speaker 1: that wasn't a flipping comment, or at least not completely.

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Speaker 1: In the run up to the auction there had been

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Speaker 1: rumors that a wealthy foreigner might buy Stonehenge, take it

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Speaker 1: apart and then reassemble it abroad as a tourist attraction.

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Speaker 1: Chub was said to have been put off by the

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Speaker 1: idea and wanted to ensure the historic site stayed under

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Speaker 1: local ownership. When asked what he planned to do with

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Speaker 1: the stones, Chub admitted he wasn't sure yet, but that

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Speaker 1: whatever he did, he would make sure the monument was

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Speaker 1: protected to the best of his ability. We can only

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Speaker 1: guess at the reaction of Chubb's wife Mary, when she

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Speaker 1: learned that her money had not gone towards the dining

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Speaker 1: chairs or curtains she had asked for, but to the

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Speaker 1: purchase of a series of giant ancient stones. Some sources

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Speaker 1: claimed Cecil tried to pass off the stones as a

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Speaker 1: romantic gift to his wife, but if that's true, she

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem to have bought it, because just three years

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Speaker 1: after purchasing Stonehenge, Cecil Chub gave it away. More precisely,

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Speaker 1: he passed the monument into public ownership by gifting the

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Speaker 1: deed to the British nation. Chub announced the decision in

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen. Writing quote to me, who was born close

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Speaker 1: to it. Stonehenge always has had an inexpressible charm. I

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Speaker 1: became the owner of it with a deep sense of

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Speaker 1: pleasure and had contemplated that it might remain a cherished

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Speaker 1: possession of my family for long years to come. It has, however,

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Speaker 1: been pressed upon me that the nation would like to

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Speaker 1: have it for its own and would prize it most highly.

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Speaker 1: Chubb's gift of Stonehenge came with one condition. He insisted

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Speaker 1: that local residents should be able to visit it for

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Speaker 1: free and perpetuity. The request was granted and it continues

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Speaker 1: to be honored to this day. A handing over ceremony

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Speaker 1: was held that October and the following near Chubb's generosity

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Speaker 1: earned him a knighthood. He was recognized as Sir Cecil Chubb,

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Speaker 1: first baronet of Stonehenge. Once again, no word on his

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Speaker 1: wife Mary's reaction, but I bet you can picture it anyway.

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Speaker 1: The funniest and possibly most annoying part of this story

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Speaker 1: is that Cecil Chubb's impulsive bid is what led to

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Speaker 1: stonehenge being saved for future generations. His generosity finally freed

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Speaker 1: the monument from centuries of neglectful private ownership. It allowed

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Speaker 1: the Office of works to officially survey the area for

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Speaker 1: the first time and then to begin restoring many of

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Speaker 1: the fallen stones. In the decades that followed, the English

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Speaker 1: Heritage Charity has carried on the work of restoring and

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Speaker 1: protecting stonehenge. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage site

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Speaker 1: in six and to this day, roughly a million people

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Speaker 1: visit the site each year. Tens of thousands of those

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Speaker 1: annual visitors are locals, who were still admitted free of charge.

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Speaker 1: The rest or tourists another out of towners who do

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Speaker 1: have to pay an admission fee. Cecil Chubb had hoped

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Speaker 1: outsiders wouldn't be charged more than a shilling per person,

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Speaker 1: but he was overruled on that point a long time

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Speaker 1: ago and the current cost is considerably higher. But if

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Speaker 1: it helps keep stonehenge standing, then it's still a small

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Speaker 1: price to pay all in all. I'm Gabe Louzier and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. You can learn even more about

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Speaker 1: history by following us on twitter, facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: t d I hc show, and if you have any

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Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, you can always send them my way

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Speaker 1: at this day at I heart media Dot Com. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to Chandler mays for producing the show and thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for

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Speaker 1: another day in history class to