Bulldozers move in at Baswich
Large sections of Stafford's historic Baswich House were today reduced to rubble after campaigners lost their battle to save the building.
Demolition workers flattened two extensions on either end of the 150-year-old mansion house yesterday and they were getting ready to make a start demolishing the main part of the town's landmark building this morning.
Baswich House, built by former Stafford MP Sir Thomas Salt when Queen Victoria was on the throne, has also been completely gutted inside.
Campaigners who have desperately fought to save the Cannock Road house today said it is now beyond salvation and nothing can save it.
But Beryl Holt, the chairman of Berkswich History Society, said members of Staffordshire Police Authority, who pushed ahead with the demolition to make way for housing, might pay the price for "ignoring" the views of Staffordians.
She said: "There's no going back now _ Baswich House is finished. But whether or not it should have been finished is very much open to debate.
"In every local paper you pick up, there are letters from people saying this should not have happened. People round here are devastated by what the police authority have done – they have a complete disregard for history." But Mrs Holt said she thought the opposition to the demolition would be shown at Stafford's ballot boxes in the local government elections later this year.
