International estate agents Coldwell Banker this week bumped up the asking price for one of England’s great stately homes from €37.5 million to €50 million. Quite the hike, even if there are faint stirrings in the country homes market here.

The agency, which listed the property through MyHome.ie in late April, posted the increased valuation for the 100-room Lilford Hall in Northamptonshire on Monday citing confusion over currency conversion rates and new instructions from the owner, “an English gentleman”.

Coldwell Banker’s Dublin office denied that there was an Irish buyer in the wings for the 5,110sq m (55,000sq ft) mansion, saying it was more likely to be bought by a wealthy American.

That may well be the case but the spectacular Grade A home dating back to 1495 does have an Irish connection, albeit somewhat tenuous. It was here that Robert Brown composed his treatise on the separation of church and state, leading him and his followers to be treated as traitors to the Queen who was (and still is) head of the Church of England.

Brown died in jail and many of his supporters were hunted down and hanged.