Sheffield Manor Lodge, also known as Sheffield Manor or locally as Manor Castle, is a lodge built about 1516 in what then was a large
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
park southeast of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
, England, to provide a country retreat and further accommodate George Talbot, the
4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his large family. The remnant of this estate is now known as
Norfolk Park. The housing estate of
Manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
is named after Sheffield Manor Lodge.
Description
The remains of Sheffield Manor Lodge include parts of the kitchens,
long gallery
In architecture, a long gallery is a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In Britain, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were normally placed on the highest reception floor of English country hous ...
, and the
Grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
Turret House (also called "Queen Mary's Tower"), which contains fine sixteenth-century ceilings.
Some evidence points to the Turret House being built by 1574, when the
Earl of Shrewsbury's accounts record payments for masonry work on the "Tyrret" at Sheffield Manor. It has three storeys of two rooms. The stair at one corner rises above the building onto the roof. This seems to have been designed as a viewing platform and is comparable with the "Hunting Tower" at
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family sin ...
.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
, was held prisoner by the
6th Earl of Shrewsbury at both Sheffield Manor Lodge and
Sheffield Castle (her
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
is said by some to haunt the Turret House building). Wolsey's Tower was built to accommodate
Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...
, who then died after travelling on to
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
.
Mary came to England in 1568 after her defeat at the
battle of Langside seeking the support of the Catholic nobility. Mary's freedom was restricted after her cousin Elizabeth was advised of the threat that Mary posed to her own crown.
She was handed over to the custody of
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury on 4 February 1569. Talbot had armed guards watching her constantly, however she was still able, with the help of the
Duke of Norfolk and others of the Catholic nobility, to plot against Elizabeth. Several times Mary had to be moved to places of greater safety and stricter control.
On 28 November 1570 she was taken to the
Earl of Shrewsbury's castle at
Tutbury
Tutbury is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is north of Burton upon Trent and south of the Peak District. The village has a population of about 3,076 residents. It adjoins Hatton, Derbyshire, H ...
, where, apart from a few breaks at
Chatsworth and
Buxton, and more regular visits to Sheffield and the Manor House, she remained for 14 years.
Despite Mary's actions, Elizabeth still seemed to support her cousin's claim to the Scottish throne, and Mary wrote regularly to her supporters in Scotland asking them to be faithful and to await the help she believed Elizabeth would provide. Two of Mary's letters are preserved in the
Sheffield Archives
Sheffield Archives (located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England) collects, preserves and lists records (or archives) relating to Sheffield and South Yorkshire and makes them available for reference and research.
Sheffield Archives is a joint ...
.
The
Duke of Norfolk, not long released from the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
, was caught in collusion with the papal agent
Roberto di Ridolfi plotting to bring about a
Catholic uprising in England. Parliament demanded the execution of both Mary Stuart and Norfolk. At this stage no action was taken against Mary, but the Duke of Norfolk was beheaded in 1572.
Mary sat for a portrait painter at Sheffield in August 1577. In 1582, while Mary was still being held at Sheffield, an inventory of all the household goods and furniture belonging to George, Earl of Shrewsbury was made. The inventory describes the castle and contents and gives an idea of the types of rooms in the castle at this date. These included a chapel, a
porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
going into the
great hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...
from the
great chamber (which was probably the large dining room), a
wardrobe, the Lord's chamber and outer chamber, the Lady's chamber, a
bakehouse
A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish ...
,
brewhouse,
pantry, washhouse and low washhouse, a round tower, a square tower and a
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
, round towers on either side of the
gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
and walls running along the waterside, a porter's lodge, a
dungeon, a square room, little kitchen, old kitchen, a
kennel and a range of
stables.
Also included in the inventory is the "stuff" of the "Queen of Scots and her people". Mary had with her a large entourage, which varied over time, made up of Scots, French and English friends and servants. The list of rooms for "her people" includes those of the Master of the "quences howsholde", a Mr Burgon as her doctor and a Mr Jarvys as her "surgion".
The 1582 survey also lists the furnishings "in the hawle at the Poandes", now known as the
Old Queen's Head
The Old Queen's Head is a pub at 14 Pond Hill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is a 15th-century Timber framing, timber framed building and the oldest surviving domestic building in Sheffield. It is now Listed building#Categories of lis ...
.
In August 1584 Queen Elizabeth finally agreed to Earl George's petition releasing him from his duty of Mary's care—a task which had broken his marriage, his health and his chances of further political advancement. After leaving Sheffield, Mary was taken to
Wingfield Manor in Derbyshire by her new gaoler, Sir
Ralph Sadler
Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir Privy Council of England, PC, Knight banneret (1507 – 30 March 1587) was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII as Privy Council of England, Privy Councillor, Secretary of State (England) ...
, and then to
Tutbury
Tutbury is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is north of Burton upon Trent and south of the Peak District. The village has a population of about 3,076 residents. It adjoins Hatton, Derbyshire, H ...
. From there she went to Chartley Manor in Staffordshire, where she became involved in the
Babington Plot.
Duke of Norfolk
After Sheffield Manor fell into the hands of the Duke of Norfolk, it was neglected, sold to tenant farmers, and largely dismantled in 1706. Some remaining walls and a window were removed to the grounds of
Queen's Tower Queen's Tower can refer to:
* Queen's Tower, Brisbane, residential skyscraper in Brisbane, Australia
* Queen's Tower (London), a building of Imperial College London
* Queen's Tower (Serpieri), a former royal estate near Athens
* Queen's Tower (Sh ...
in
Norfolk Park by
Robert Marnock
Robert Marnock (1800–1889) was one of the outstanding English horticulturalists and garden designers of the 19th century. He was considered by his contemporaries to be the best exponent of the Gardenesque school of landscape gardening.
Life
Bef ...
in 1839. In 1953 the Duke of Norfolk Estate leased the site to
Sheffield City Council for 999 years.
"Restoration" plan
In 2004, the building featured on the
BBC TV
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...
programme ''
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
'' and was the subject of a National Lottery funding bid to convert it to a
heritage centre and traditional farm. Green Estate, which was established by the Manor and Castle Development Trust and Sheffield Wildlife Trust, received £1.25 million from the
Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the Turret House and develop the site as a visitor attraction.
Visitor attraction
The Sheffield Manor Lodge visitor attraction includes the Turret house, Tudor grounds, Discovery Centre, and Rhubarb Shed Cafe. The Turret House is open to the public every Sunday between April and September, in Sheffield school holidays and on special event days.
References
External links
Sheffield Manor Lodge website
{{coord, 53.374031, N, 1.436656, W, scale:2000_type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Buildings and structures completed in 1516
Houses completed in the 16th century
Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield
Country houses in South Yorkshire
History of Sheffield
Scheduled monuments in South Yorkshire
Manor houses in England
1516 establishments in England