A grand family mansion has been sold for more than £1.5 million - nearly fours years after going on the market.

Boley Hill House is set in a prime location in Rochester in the shadow of the castle and overlooking the River Medway.

It went up for sale after Hilary Halpern, a respected architect and stalwart of the Jewish community, and his wife, Marie, died.

The grade-II listed building was the home where the couple brought up their three sons and two daughters after buying it 50 years beforehand.

After their deaths, they decided the proceeds of the sale should go to the self-funded Halpern Charitable Foundation which supports the arts particularly those who are socially isolated, vulnerable or who have mental and physical issues.

Just days after it was put up for sale it was suspected someone had made an offer, however, it stayed on the market.

The charity also helps to fund the upkeep of the Chatham Memorial Synagogue in the High Street.

The seven-bedroom house in spacious grounds has a separate lodge and boasts many original features.

At the time of being up for sale, daughter Dalia Halpern-Matthews said: “We were all agreed that the money should go to the foundation.

"It is what we wanted and what my father would have wanted.”

Following his retirement in the early 1990s, Mr Halpern set up the charity and founded an arts centre in Rochester High Street where he could work and return to his passion of sculpture.

Nucleus Arts has recently bought the Conservancy Building next to the Guildhall Museum in Rochester High Street and opened it up as an arts hub with galleries, studios and a cafe.

A spokesman for the West Malling-based estate agents Fine and Country, confirmed the property was currently under offer for the guide price of between £1,550,000 and £1,650,000.

It was originally put on the market for £2 million.

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