Stuart Triggol has been with GTH for five decades

Antiques & Collectables Bridgwater News Business News Taunton

Somerset auctioneer Stuart remembers day he sold a sculpture – for £325,000

Paul JonesOctober 27, 20250 Comment0

THE man who brought the hammer down on a Somerset auction firm’s biggest ever sale is marking 50 years with the company today (October 27).

Auctioneer Stuart Triggol began his career with Greenslade Taylor Hunt in 1975, having started out as a helper at a country house sale in West Bagborough during his Easter school holidays the year before.

“It was my first foray into antiques,” said Stuart, who joined WRJ Greenslade & Co in October 1975.

He had already formed connections with the firm, growing up in a farming family, while his sister, Dolly, also worked for the company.

In the 1970s, GTH had two offices and ran the livestock markets at Taunton and Bridgwater. Now, the organisation boasts a network of 17 branches across Somerset, Devon and Dorset.

There was no antiques saleroom, with sales held on-site – from grand country houses to unremarkable terraced properties – with Stuart also helping out at all types of agricultural sales.

In the late 1970s, The Priory Saleroom was opened and antiques auctions were held there, while general sales then taking place at the rugby clubhouse in Taunton every three weeks.

In the 90s, the firm merged with FL Hunt & Sons, and the antiques department moved to Magdalene House in Church Square, Taunton, in 1992.

Stuart has been with them every step of the way and a career came with the sale of the Joy Barnes Collection.

He was on the rostrum when the hammer came down at £325,000 for a Barbara Hepworth sculpture – the highest individual price ever achieved at a Greenslade Taylor Hunt antiques sale.

He also enjoyed the big country house sales such as those at Gerbestone Manor, West Buckland, near Wellington, and Uphill Manor at Weston-super-Mare.

Uphill featured a number of Pugin rooms – the famed architect behind the design of the Palace of Westminster, with a number of lots snapped up by the palace for the parliamentary buildings.

Back then, the only way to attend a sale was to be there in person, now people can enjoy the thrill of the saleroom from the comfort of their own homes via online bidding.

More recently, the antiques department had premises at the Octagon in East Reach, Taunton, before moving to its current base at Junction 24, Sedgemoor Auction Centre, North Petherton.

Stuart said he still enjoys the camaraderie of the saleroom and the opportunity to unearth unexpected finds on house calls, working part-time as a consultant valuer, giving him more time for his involvement in a number of hobbies.

He is chair of Cheddon Fitzpaine Flower Show and a regular participant in drama productions by The Cheddoners, as well as enjoying the countryside and walking with his Fox Red Labrador Retriever, Benson, and attending horse trials.