GHF-E090-N10 — “Farmer fails in final eviction hearing” (Western Mail, 6 December 1988)

page · Updated 2026-10-12T00:51:16 · Original source

Western Mail cutting, Farmer fails in final eviction hearing, 6 December 1988

Wiki catalogue reference: GHF-E090-N10 · Custodian / source URL: Buckler family evidence repository

Evidence preview

EVIDENCE OBJECT: PRESENT ON WIKI. Catalogue item GHF-E090-N10. The image below is the original evidence supplied for this catalogue item. It is not a placeholder or illustrative image. This page is the canonical evidence-catalogue page for the 6 December 1988 Western Mail cutting.

Catalogue UID: GHF-E090-N10 · Custodian/source copy: open source object. Preview and provenance status as at 10-10-2026.

Description

4. Provenance and where to check it

DOCUMENTED (press report). Catalogue no. GHF-E090-N10. Sections 1 to 4 record what the cutting is and says. Section 5 is the Wiki’s reading and is open to challenge. A press report is evidence of what a newspaper reported, not proof that its statements are true. Jump to: Evidence · Transcript · Description · Provenance · Interpretation. ^🕒

What it is: a news report annotated “Western Mail 6 Dec 1988”.
People and bodies named: Billy and Branwen Buckler; BP Properties Ltd; their solicitor Mr Colin Jongman; Mrs Janet Harris (Mr Buckler’s sister); Judge Norman Francis; Cadw (unnamed spokesperson); the European Commission and Court of Human Rights.
What is reported: that “a judge at Cardiff Crown Court” dismissed, after a hearing in chambers, the Bucklers’ application for an injunction restraining BP Properties from destroying or damaging the building; that the judge, in open court, said the Bucklers had exhausted domestic remedies after being refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords; that he doubted whether they had applied to the European Commission in time, and that last-minute application could not found a right to an injunction; that Cadw said the house lacked sufficient architectural merit and the land sufficient archaeological interest; that Mrs Harris said the house had been in the family for four generations. ^🕒
Figures printed: “800-year-old”; 10-acre estate; 33 years of dispute; four generations.

Image files: the repository file named above and Google Drive file 1478915_10201438082894092…jpg. Transcribed on the Press Archive page (N10). The earlier cross-reference GHF-E027-07 is retained only as a historical research reference; the canonical evidence catalogue entry is this page, GHF-E090-N10.
Original newspaper: Western Mail, 6 December 1988. No archive link has been verified for this title, so none is given. The Findmypast list of Welsh newspaper titles can be checked for whether it is held.

Transcription

Open transcription

2. Verbatim transcript

Bracketed words such as [Destroying] and [Relief] are cross-headings.

A FAMILY’S long and bitter battle for an historic farmhouse appeared to be over last night after a High Court decision went against them and the Welsh historic monuments organisation decided to take no action. Farmer Billy Buckler and his wife, Branwen, had been hoping to hang on to the reputedly 800-year-old Great House Farm at Llandough and its prime 10-acre estate overlooking Cardiff Bay so that the question of ownership could be decided by the European Court. [Destroying] But after a hearing in chambers a judge at Cardiff Crown Court dismissed an application by Mr and Mrs Buckler for an injunction to restrain BP Properties Ltd, the owners of the land, from destroying or damaging the fabric of the building. Their solicitor, Mr Colin Jongman, said after the hearing, “There are no more steps that can be taken now that the building can be knocked down.” He added that if the building was knocked down, there was little point seeking a declaration from the European Court that they could occupy the building. The couple then had their hopes dashed of help from Cadw. A spokesperson there told the Western Mail the house was not of sufficient architectural merit and the land on which it stands was not of sufficient archaeological interest. Following the court hearing, Mrs Janet Harris, Mr Buckler’s sister, said the house had been in the family for four generations. “It is reputed to be 800 years old and yet it seems they can destroy it on what is a whim.” She forecast that “they will have it down as fast as they can now” and said their only hope was that Cadw would accept it as a listed building.

Judge Norman Francis giving his judgment in open court said that after the Buckleys’s unsuccessfully sought leave to appeal to the House of Lords against an Appeal Committee ruling they had exhausted the remedies available to them under the laws of England and Wales. Their case was that there was a triable issue for the Court of Human Rights to consider and that the status quo as to the building and fittings should be preserved until it had been decided. [Relief] The judge said there seemed doubt whether the plaintiffs had acted in time for the European Commission to consider the case. The fact that somebody chooses at the eleventh hour to apply to the Commission could not set up a right to “injunctive relief”. It would be novel for a court in this country to grant an injunction to hold up the effects of a judgment until the Court of Human Rights should rule on it, said the judge. The battle for the farmhouse and estate has been waged for 33 years by the Buckler family.

Interpretation and wider context

RECONSTRUCTION. Sequence. This is the Wiki’s principal contemporary source for the reasoning given when the last injunction application failed on the afternoon of Monday 5 December 1988. It follows the reported interim order (N08) and precedes the demolition (N11).

Human rights application. The judge’s comment on timing sits beside the Wiki’s record of the application to the European Commission of Human Rights (Q&A: Human Rights). The report is a journalist’s summary of a hearing, not the judgment, and the wording attributed to the judge should be checked against the court record.

Discrepancy noted. This report says the judge sat at “Cardiff Crown Court”. The demolition report (N11) says “Cardiff’s High Court”, and the Echo extract of 2 December (N15) names a different judge, Mr Justice Anthony Evans, at an earlier hearing. The Wiki does not resolve which court sat on which day without the court records.

Cadw. The report records Cadw’s decision not to act. The Wiki’s separate record of Cadw’s listing assessment and the 2026 disclosure is under Archaeology and Heritage.

Obtain the dated page from the archive.
Obtain the court record and any transcript of the judgment of 5 December 1988.

Citation rule: Other Wiki pages should link to GHF-E090-N10, the dedicated evidence page when relying on this article. Do not cite the article image, a filename, or the transcript page without linking through this catalogue record.

Interpretive assessment date: 10-10-2026.