earl

The earl is shocked to discover that the family would have neighbors and that he’d have to “go along” the hallway to bed rather than ascend the stairs as he would in a grand home.

He inherited it following his father's death in 2015, and began to think more deeply about what it meant to be an earl.

Its inhabitants are those of “there will always be an England” England: stern vicars, timid curates, lords and earls, penniless titled wastrels living on allowances from their uncles, imperious aunts, upper-crust twits.

The tomb became an enclosed vault after an 18th Century earl raised the roof.

Maidwell Hall in Northamptonshire said it was "sobering" to read about the earl's experiences.