Mediterranean Snails Discovered At Famed Mansion

A colony of Mediterranean snails were discovered at Britain’s Cliveden House, apparently having lived there in secret for a century.

Several hundred of the 11mm-long snails, never before seen in Britain, are believed to be at the mansion, and thought to have come from Italy by way of a balustrade purchased by Lord Astor, a former owner.

Cliveden House has an interesting history. In 1961, a political scandal occurred after John Profumo met model Christine Keeler at the Buckinghamshire mansion. Soccer player Steven Gerrard was married at the National Trust property last year. Visitors throughout the years include Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Charlie Chaplin

Through it all, the Papillifera papillaris snail has been a reclusive guest.

"They were found by a specialist volunteer who helps us clean the statuary in Cliveden," the Trust’s nature conservation advisor Mathew Oates told BBC News.

"He went to a talk at the local archaeological society given by a snail specialist, mentioned his find, and it turned out he’d spotted the colony which had almost certainly been there since 1896," he said.

Typically found around the Mediterranean, the Cliveden discovery is believed to be Britain’s only sighting of the species, where they live in crevices in the marble and at the bottom of the balustrade.

Cliveden took delivery in 1896 of a travertine marble balustrade that now runs about 100 meters along the top of the mansion’s immaculately maintained grounds. 

"It was purchased and brought over from Rome by the first Viscount Astor," John Bignell, the property’s visitor services manager, told BBC News.

"He’d been an ambassador in Rome and was a great collector. The Villa Borghese in Rome, which he bought it from, now has a copy."

Although the balustrade itself dates from about 1816, the precise date that the snails came on board is unknown.  

"What they’re doing, what they’re eating, we don’t rightly know, although it’s likely they’re feeding on lichen or algae growing on the marble," Mr. Oates said.

"But what’s important is they’ve also been found in two, possibly three other places at Cliveden, so all our eggs are not in one basket from a conservation point of view."

The snails have witnessed a number of seminal moments in UK politics throughout the years.  Nancy Astor, wife of the second viscount, was the first female MP to take her seat.  Ministers, prime ministers and other dignitaries visited so often during the 1930s that the circle of habitués gained the sobriquet of the "Cliveden Set".

But the most infamous event was undoubtedly the meeting in 1961 of Profumo and Keeler, an 18-year-old model and call girl who was having an affair with a Soviet military attaché.   Profumo’s fall was inevitable after he lied to parliament about Keeler’s subsequent affair with the cabinet minister.

Cliveden House is still owned by the National Trust, and is used as a hotel.  Its most famous recent visitor was Liverpool star Steven Gerrard, who was married there in June of last year.  It remains a mystery whether or not Papillifera papillaris was spotted by guests.

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Image Caption: Historical Cliveden House. Courtesy Antony McCallum (Wikipedia)

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On the Net:

National Trust – Cliveden