Ancient oak panel from Dorchester school withdrawn from sale
There's been questions raised over who actually owns the woodwork
An ancient oak panel, from Dorchester's Thomas Hardye School, has been withdrawn from sale, just days before it should have been auctioned off.
The woodwork is being returned to the school site.
It follows a campaign which questioned why the panel had been offered for sale – and who legally owns the ancient object - thought to have come from a Spanish galleon washed up on the Dorset coast.
For decades, it was on display in the current school and at previous sites around the town.
In a statement the President of the Old Hardyeans, Damien Lewis said:
“Cheffins Auctions and their client Heritage Antiques GB, together with The Hardyeans’ Club and The Thomas Hardye School have held amicable and constructive discussions with the result that the Elizabethan Oak Screen will be returned to the school over the coming days. All parties are delighted that this piece of local history will again be on display for students and the public to see for generations to come.”
The oak panel was taken down from the school hall in 2021 when the building was refurbished and not seen again until a photograph and description of it emerged in the September sale catalogue for Cheffins of Cambridge.
Since that was made public, the auction house website now shows the panel, expected to have fetched up to £5,000, as being withdrawn from sale with no explaination given.
Neither Cheffins or the Thomas Hardye School have answered questions about how the panel came to be in the sale, or who made the decision.
A door from the panel, which measures 4.5 by 6 metres, had been removed prior to being put in the auction and has been retained by the school.
Several former pupils, former school governors and the Old Hardyean Association had campaigned to keep the panel in Dorchester.
The screen was first noted as being placed in the re-built school where Napper’s Mite now stands in South Street in the early 1600s following the 1613 Great Fire of Dorchester.
After further moves to other school sites around the town the screen was displayed in the present school theatre in Queen’s Avenue and had also been in the sixth form common room.