A Victorian church in Kent and its burial ground was one of the 804 lots sold by Clive Emson Auctioneers last year, as the company celebrated its 30th anniversary.
The Whitfield United Reformed Church in Dover, which dates from 1867, was sold in Clive Emson’s December sale for £116,000.
The regional auctioneer, which was founded as a one-man band in 1989, said that it had raised a total of £147.9m in 2019 through its auctions in Chelmsford, Maidstone, Brighton, Saltash and Fareham – a 14.5% fall compared with the previous year, when it raised £173.1m from sales in the same locations.
The total number of lots catalogued in 2019 fell to 1,017 in 2019 from 1,175 the previous year, while the number of lots sold fell to 804 from 920.
The first sale of 2020 will take place in the same regional locations over 10-14 February.
“There is no doubt that it has been a challenging year for everyone in the industry for a number of reasons,” said James Emson, managing director of Clive Emson Auctioneers. However, he added that the firm was entering its fourth decade “in good spirits and with great enthusiasm”.
