Tixall Gatehouse is a 16th-century gatehouse situated at
Tixall
Tixall is a small village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the English county of Staffordshire lying on the western side of the Trent valley between Rugeley and Stone, Staffordshire and roughly 4 miles east of Stafford. The popula ...
, near
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
and is all that remains of Tixall Hall which was demolished in 1927. The gatehouse is a
Grade I listed building. Tixall was used as a prison for
Mary, Queen of Scots for two weeks in 1586.
History
The manor of Tixall was held for many years by the
Littleton family until 1507 when the Littleton heiress married Sir John Aston. The medieval manor house was replaced by Sir Edward Aston,
High Sheriff of Staffordshire, in about 1555 and the Gatehouse was added in about 1580. The Gatehouse is a three-story rectangular structure, the
balustraded facade of which is decorated with three orders of twinned columns. There are four octagonal corner turrets topped with
cupolas and weather vanes.
The Astons were later raised to the
baronetage
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
and to the
peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include:
Australia
* Australian peers
Belgium
* Belgi ...
, with the title
Lord Aston of Forfar.
Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar
Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar (6 April 1609 – 23 April 1678) was the second and eldest surviving son of Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar, and Gertrude Sadleir, daughter of Sir Thomas Sadleir of Standon, Hertfordshire, and his s ...
became a
recusant Catholic. After his death it was alleged, as part of the bogus accusations in the Popish Plot, that he received
Jesuits at Tixall, and in August and September 1677 held meetings at Tixall attended by
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford and Aston's steward
Stephen Dugdale
Stephen Dugdale (1640?-1683) was an English informer, and self-proclaimed discoverer of parts of the Popish Plot (which was in reality the fabrication of his fellow informer Titus Oates). He perjured himself on numerous occasions, giving false test ...
where the assassination of
Charles II was plotted. Amidst the
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate C ...
allegations, one contemporary witness, William Skelton, described finding Dugdale and Stafford talking alone together in the Little Parlour and the Great Parlour (a dining-room next to Aston's chamber) at Tixall in September 1678. A letter from Stafford mentioning a plot was allegedly found in Aston's study.
On the death of the sixth Lord Aston the estate passed to his sister, who had married Thomas Clifford (see
Clifford-Constable baronets). Clifford replaced the old house with a new mansion in about 1780 but retained the Tudor Gatehouse. Several local families were descended from the Astons, including the
Levetts of
Lichfield (and later of
Wychnor Park
Wychnor Hall (or Wychnor Park, ) is Grade II Listed early 18th-century country house near Burton on Trent, Staffordshire, formerly owned by the Levett Family. The hall has been converted to a Country Club.
History
Wychnor takes its name from th ...
).
The Cliffords sold the Tixall estate to
Earl Talbot of nearby
Ingestre Hall in about 1835 and thereafter the property was let out to tenants. The Hall itself was demolished in 1927, leaving only the Gatehouse standing, and the estate was broken up when sold off piecemeal in 1960. In 1968 the
Landmark Trust bought the Gatehouse which, following restoration, is now available for holiday lets.
Mary, Queen of Scots at Tixall
Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned here for two weeks in 1586. Her jailer
Amias Paulet had gone to assess the hall in September 1585 as a more permanent residence. Paulet thought the house was suitable but argued it would be a pity to make Sir
Walter Aston and his household of 100 persons move out, as his high standing and religion was good for the region. Aston argued that the move would disturb his farming and he would be forced to sell his sixty cattle and his plough oxen.
On 11 August 1586, the English authorities decided to act on the
Babington plot. Mary was out riding from
Chartley Chartley may refer to:
Places
*Chartley Castle lies in ruins to the north of the village of Stowe-by-Chartley in Staffordshire
* Chartley Moss, a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Staffordshire
* Chartley railway station, former Bri ...
with
Bastian Pagez, her doctor
Dominique Bourgoing and others, and they were surprised by armed soldiers who took them to Tixall in order to search Mary's rooms at Chartley and seize her papers.
Francis Walsingham sent an order to Paulet from
Windsor Castle on 25 September 1586 not to take Mary back to Chartley and keep her at Tixall as
Elizabeth planned for Mary to go to
Fotheringhay Castle. Paulet had taken Mary back to Chartley, however, before the new orders. As she left Tixall with Paulet and Walter Aston, Mary wept and said to some poor people at Tixall's gate, ''"I have nothing for you, I am a beggar as well as you, all is taken from me."''
[''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol. 8 (1914), pp 628, 632.]
See also
*
List of Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire
There are over 9000 Grade I listed buildings in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea ...
*
Listed buildings in Tixall
Tixall is a civil parish in the Borough of Stafford, Staffordshire, England. It contains 15 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade I, t ...
*
Tixall Wide
Tixall Wide, also known as Tixall Broad or The Broad Water, is a body of water that forms part of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Tixall in Staffordshire, England, to the south of the former Tixall Hall.
The lake was probably ...
*
Lord Aston of Forfar
Notes
References
''Staffordshire Historical Collections, Volume 4'' (1883) pp 20-25 from British History Online
External links
Digital visualisation of a demolished Tixall bay window, De Montfort University
{{coord, 52.8041, -2.0324, type:landmark_region:GB-STS, display=title
Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire
Landmark Trust properties in England
British country houses destroyed in the 20th century
Gatehouses (architecture)