Aristocrat puts northern estate his family have owned since 1332 up for sale - with lots including a pub and caravan site

Lord Max Percy, whose family seat is Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, has put the Rothbury Estate on the market. The 9,500 acres include 12 farms, woodland, and the Simonside Hills.

The Percys have owned the estate since 1332 and they remain major landowners in the north-east of England. They are historically associated with significant holdings in Yorkshire – the first Percy to settle in England after the Norman Conquest, William, was awarded the manor of Topcliffe, near Thirsk, and built York Castle. Henry, the first Baron Percy who purchased Alnwick Castle, also owned the town of Malton. The second baron was granted Skipton Castle.

When the male line died out, it was a Yorkshire baronet who married a Percy daughter and revived the name. Sir Hugh Smithson became the first Duke of Northumberland in 1766, and he brought with him his own family’s estates, Stanwick Hall near Richmond. His grandson, Lord Algernon Percy, was the main resident of Stanwick Hall for much of the Victorian period, and his widow, Lady Eleanor, lived there until her death in 1911. The house was rarely used by the family afterwards, and the estate sold in 1923 with the hall eventually demolished.

The Rothbury sale also includes a river for salmon and trout fishing, 23 residential properties, a caravan site and the Crown and Thistle pub in the tiny village of Alwinton.

The rent from the farms, buildings and houses on the estate currently brings in £283,000 per year in income.

It is the first time the estate has gone on the market since the Percy family staked their claim on the estate in 1332 and the largest single land sale in England for three decades.

Lord Max, 32, is the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland. He married Princess Nora of Oettingen-Spielberg, the daughter of Albrecht Ernst, Prince of Oettingen-Oettingen, in 2017.

The sale has sparked fury from residents in Rothbury, who say the estate should be “given back to the people”.

Independent councillor Steven Bridgett, who represents Rothbury on Northumberland County Council, slammed the proposed sale saying he feared the land would be bought by someone with “more money than sense”.

He said: “Just what we need. More land being flogged off to corporations (usually international), so they can offset their carbon emissions and generate revenue through the government for planting up areas with trees.

“My fear is that we may see this estate go the same way we have seen many other estates in the south of England and in Wales go - bought up by a business or corporation for tax purposes or by someone with more money than sense, parts of it developed and much of it planted up with trees as a result of government funding priorities.

"Because, by the looks of it, we are all going to be eating bark in the future. There will be no opportunity for the next generation to work the land or help improve the landscape and environment."

The Northumberland Estates office said that sale was a private one and the land does not form part of the main ducal holdings. Tenants have been informed.