Guinness family heirlooms go under the hammer in Suffolk

Elveden Hall - the backdrop for a number of high-profile films and series - will host what the current earl describes as a "liberating and wonderful" auction of around 440 diverse items from the family's English and Irish homes on September 14.

These range from highly-prized gilt mirrors and carpets to a stuffed lion and a Louis XV commode.

Many were once owned by current earl Edward Guinness's great-great grandparents  Edward Cecil and his wife Adelaide Guinness and date from the Victorian era. 

The last great sale to take place at the hall was instigated by the third Earl of Iveagh in 1984 and also included a number of high-quality lots.

The Guinness family made its fortune from its world-famous stout, first brewed by Arthur Guinness at St James’s Gate in Dublin in the late 1700s.

The first earl - Arthur's great grandson - died in 1927, and the pieces have remained in family ownership since. Guide prices range from £200 to upwards of £20,000.

They come from Guinness family properties including the Elveden Estate, a Guinness family London residence at Hyde Park Corner and Farmleigh in Dublin.

The current Lord Iveagh sold Farmleigh - his childhood home - to the Irish state in 1999. It is now the Irish State Guesthouse, hosting many high-profile dignitaries including the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

He and his family now live on the Elveden Estate - but not in the main hall.

When the family vacated Farmleigh after its sale, Lord Iveagh brought much of the furniture back to Suffolk.

"I emigrated a lot of the items really thinking that if Elveden hall was going go become the family residence I would want it there. I wanted to leave my options open," he explained.

"They have been sitting in store - the items for sale - ever since that time and I think they are beautiful pieces primarily purchased by my great-great grandparents from the later Victorian era.

"They are lovely Guinness family pieces and in a way what we have been doing - because of the filming that has been taking place in the hall - we have had quite a lot of rooms unavailable because I have had them filled with items from storage."

Films set at the hall include Stanley Kubrick's 1999 erotic drama Eyes Wide Shut, TV mini-series Catherine the Great, BBC's Rogue Heroes released in 2022 and Jemima Khan's romantic comedy What's Love Got To Do With It?

The earl discussed the idea of a sale - which is being conducted by local auctioneers Sworders - with his family and two sons before deciding to take the plunge, he said.

"I think it's just such a big premises and my family has not lived there really since the 1920s since the first earl died - the era of the royal shooting parties. Great grandfather lived within the village and my dad had a house within the village," he said.

But he admitted it wasn't easy to begin with. "I started off by finding it quite difficult. I'm a hoarder by nature myself. But after it had started it was actually very straightforward and actually it's a really wonderful feeling.

"You can get over-complicated in life and have too many possessions and actually I found it quite liberating. I'm not going to be bereft of furniture from it," he said.

"These things have been primarily sitting in store rooms and insuring them and keeping them safe and worrying about them - so actually I knew I had to do it at some point and now seems to be the right time."

With 40-odd bedrooms and many more rooms besides it was much bigger than his own family needed, he added.

"It's so huge," he said. "For one family it's vast."

The sale meant more of the hall could be used for filming purposes, he said. Production companies appreciated the "terrific backdrop" of the hall and the estate.

While "you can't bank on these things happening", the activity had been "jolly helpful for the estate" without having recourse to the tax-payer to maintain the Grade II* listed stately home as well as being good for the local economy, he said.

Some memorable moments for the earl, then aged 29, was having a coca cola with actor Tom Cruise during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut and the late Peter O-Toole's regular forays to the village shop where he would purchase a bottle of whisky.

"It allows more creatives to use the hall," he said. "They come and they go - there's no way of knowing - but it has been really good for the fabric of the place for these films to take place and there's nothing better than beautiful rooms that are undressed (for film-makers) - so it's the best of all worlds."

He added: "This sale doesn't impact in any way whatsoever on the working estate or the village or on those living within the curtilage of the hall. It's really business as usual in terms of all the functions of the estates."

Many of the sale pieces involve great craftsmanship and detailing and while some of the styling may have gone out of fashion, he was reminded of his father's sale in 1984 when a  suite of very high quality art deco furniture was sold for just hundreds of pounds,  he said.

"You couldn't give them away. It's such a fine suite that would have gone currently for five figures," he said. "Everything had sat with great dust sheets on and my father just got fed up with keeping everything and wasn't enjoying it."

Some of the highlights of this sale will be some beautiful gilded mirrors from Farmleigh and some lovely carpets, he said.

"I just don't know how it will go but it will really help in its own little way. It will move the hall forward. I'm not selling absolutely everything because I'm aware things can move in the future," he said. "It will give me options."

He has not determined yet what he will do with the proceeds of the sale. "I'll have to see when it materialises but it will alllow me scope to a greater or lesser extent. It will give me choices and options and I think the hall will benefit from the sale.

"It will all help with the roof and the management and fabric of the place."

The earl said he was looking forward to the items finding good homes "where they are appreciated and loved and enjoyed".

"It's rather liberating and wonderful - I'm just hoping there will be interest," he said. "I'll feel very satisfied that people have bought something they have loved."

Sworders director Luke Macdonald said: "It’s a huge honour for Sworders to be asked to conduct this auction for Lord Iveagh.

"The Guinness family name is one that resonates across the world and is today synonymous not just with brewing but also with the connoisseurship of art and antiques.

"Many of the objects we are bringing for sale were bought by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh and have been treasured by generations of the family."

Viewing takes place at the hall from September 9 to 13.