Overview

Most people believe their home is their castle. But it isn't. If the council want it, it's theirs. Billy and Gordon Howard still believe Rose Cottage belongs to them. Barnsley Council knows better. It has placed a compulsory purchase order on the cottage and surrounding land. Legally the council is the owner. The bachelor brothers are 65 and 73. They are set in their ways and absolutely refuse to budge. They doggedly refuse to recognise the validity of an order confirmed by a Secretary of State. Their stance is a symbol of the impossibility of reconciling individual freedom with community needs. For when the bailiffs come, the brothers say they will shoot, rather than give up their birthright.