Sandringham Estate Map
- Who Owns Norfolk?
- Jan 20, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: 3 minutes ago
The map below displays the full extent of Sandringham Estate.
Who Owns Norfolk produced this Sandringham Estate Map. To our knowledge this is the first map of the estate to be made publicly available, perhaps ever.
Sandringham Estate is owned by King Charles III and is just over 20,000 acres in size. As a result it is Norfolk's second largest private estate, after Holkham Estate. The estate's area is larger than that of Norwich, a city of over 140,000 people. The royal family typically spend their Christmases at Sandringham.
The estate owns most of the villages of Sandringham and West Newton, Anmer and Flitcham, which constitute hundreds of homes which are rented out. It includes several grand country houses: the stately Sandringham House, where the Royal Family spend Christmas, and Anmer Hall, which was gifted to Prince William in 2013.
It also includes the Dersingham Bog National Nature Reserve, the large Sandringham woods, a large number of farms with tenant farmers, a stretch of the River Babingley, a caravan park, a visitor centre, a transport museum, several schools and other quirkier properties such as a village hall and cricket ground.
Who Owns Norfolk and the Guardian collaborated on a 2023 investigation into the estate. The research found that, taking into account the many rental properties, the farmland, commercial rentals and the grand mansions, King Charles' Sandringham Estate is worth between £250m and £390m, according to valuation experts.
A constant supply of farming and environmental subsidies has helped to make the land more workable and brought in a steady supplementary income. The estate has received £15.4m in subsidies since 2000, according to official figures.
In recent years, the royals have started to buy back Sandringham properties, including in Dersingham and Wolferton, using the income from Sandringham, the Crown Estate and their other massive land and property holdings - the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster.
Sandringham House, taken in 2011 (credit: John Fielding), source link
Sandringham has been owned by the Royal Family since 1862, when just under 8,000 acres of land were purchased for £220,000 for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, as a country home for him and his future wife. Between 1870 and 1900, the existing country house was almost completely rebuilt.
Most of Britain's landed aristocracy have faced a decline (to a greater or lesser extent) since the late 19th Century, when an agricultural depression followed by the imposition of high inheritance taxes led to the partial or total break up of many estates. The Royal Family has the power to veto laws that might impact their wealth, so one assumes they did not face the same pressure - their Norfolk estate has almost tripled since 1883. For reference, the other vast Norfolk estate, Holkham, almost halved in size in the 20th Century.
Who Owns Norfolk Estate Maps
Who Owns Norfolk has produced other maps of Norfolk estates, including:
The full Who Owns Norfolk map can be found here.