- Do YOU have a story? Email: john.james@dailymail.co.uk
A dispute between neighbours in Victorian England which rocked a sleepy coastal village on the edge of the Lake District has left an enduring legacy.
The owners of a detached property on Stankelt Road in Silverdale, Lancs, decided to build a second home in the garden. Unfortunately the new build loomed over the neighbouring house.
So in response the owners built a limestone wall around 30 meters high and 18 inches thick, which still stands today.
Known as the spite wall, the structure stands as a legacy to the ferocity of the dispute which is said to date back to 1885.
The current owner of The Limes which faces the wall said: ‘We really don’t know too much about it given this happened over a hundred years ago. They built the wall to spite the owner of this house.
They must have been angry that their view of the surrounding fields had been spoilt by the new build.’
Local historian Noel Livesey, who used to live in The Limes said to the Mail: ‘We moved into the Limes in 1989 and spent around 20 years there.
The spite wall did not really pose too many problems for us. There is actually a room at the top of The Limes that is above the wall, and you can see the sea.
A dispute between neighbours in Victorian England which rocked a sleepy coastal village on the edge of the Lake District has left an enduring legacy
It is believed the colossal wall was a work of desperate spite by one frustrated homeowner
‘The spite wall is actually a remarkable feat of engineering. It’s entirely free standing.’
Mr Livesey spoke with local resident May Johnson who lived at number 27. May, who died in 1991, told Noel that the owner of Resthaven found it was too big for his needs.
So he built a second house named The Limes.
Mr Livesey wrote: ‘Town Planners and parish councils must have been thin on the ground in those days , so the only weapon for the owners of 21 , already in existence, and who clearly took exception to another house looking down on them, was to build a wall blocking the view, the present spite wall.
Nowadays people plant Leylandii and wait a year or two.’
A local man who asked not to be named said: ‘Yes at the time I think it was a fall out between neighbours but today. I just think the wall adds to the charm of the village. It’s a reminder of the way things used to be.’
Liz Unsworth, who chairs Silverdale Parish Council, said: ‘All I know is that the Stankelt Road spite wall was built in 1885 as a result of a dispute between neighbours.’
The impressive structure completely obscures the view from the new house
The six bedroom property which features the spite wall is currently listed for sale with a local estate agents
While spite walls may be redolent of Victorian era England, property owners continue to act out revenge on each other.
When the neighbours objected to Zipporah Lisle-Mainwaring’s plans to demolish her Kensington town house, she commissioned a red and white paint job as revenge. Ms Lisle-Mainwaring eventually won planning permission.
A report by the Co-op in 2016 found that one in five Brits had been involved in property disputes, with London and Birmingham identified as hotspots.
And two thirds of Brits said they did not regard their neighbours as a friend.
The six bedroom property which features the spite wall is currently listed for sale with a local estate agents.
A local estate agent told the Mail:’It’s a remarkable feature but we are not sure if it’s a selling point or affects the value. It’s just a bit of history really.’
