Shugborough Hall is a

stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

near

Great Haywood Great Haywood is a village in central Staffordshire, England, just off the A51 and about northwest of Rugeley and southeast of the county town of Stafford. Population details taken at the 2011 census can be found under Colwich. Haywood ...

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 ...

, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of

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 ...

and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissolution of the monasteries, upon which it passed through several hands before being purchased in 1624 by William Anson, a local lawyer and ancestor of the

Earls of Lichfield Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family. ...

. The estate remained in the

Anson family ) , type = , country = * , estates = Shugborough HallBirch Hall , titles = * Earl of Lichfield * Viscount Anson * Baronet Anson , founded = , founder = George Anson , current head ...

for three centuries. Following the death of the 4th Earl of Lichfield in 1960, the estate was allocated to the National Trust in lieu of

death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

, and then immediately leased to Staffordshire County Council. Management of the estate was returned to the National Trust in 2016. It is open to the public and comprises the hall, museum, kitchen garden and a model farm.

History

upAdmiral George Anson, 1st Baron Anson The Shugborough estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissolution of the monasteries around 1540, and thereafter passed through several hands, until it was purchased in 1624 by William Anson (c.1580–1644), a lawyer, of

Dunston, Staffordshire Dunston is a small village in England lying on the west side of the A449 trunk road about south of Stafford, close to Junction 13 of the M6 motorway. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 281. It lies at roughly 300 feet (98 m ...

for £1,000.Jackson-Stops, p. 7 In 1693, William Anson's grandson, also called William (1656–1720), demolished the existing manor house and constructed a three-story building which still forms the central part of the hall.''A Brief History of Shugborough'' William's elder son, Thomas Anson MP (1695-1773), would further extend the house in the 1740s, adding two pavilions flanking either side of the central block. It was Thomas's younger brother, however, who would fund these changes; Admiral George Anson, created Lord Anson in 1747 and First Lord of the Admiralty in 1751, amassed a great fortune during his naval career, and when he died without issue he left the majority to his elder brother. Thomas also died childless and the estate passed to his sister's son, George Adams, who adopted the surname Anson by royal licence. In 1806, George's son Thomas (1767–1818) was created 1st Viscount Anson. His son, the 2nd viscount, would be created 1st Earl of Lichfield in the coronation honours of William IV. The Earl led an extravagant lifestyle and amassed several large debts, which, in 1842, forced him to sell the entire contents of the house in a two-week-long sale. While the 2nd earl did much to restore the house and contents to its former glory, by the time his son inherited the estate it was heavily mortgaged. In 1831, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, the future Queen Victoria, then 13, visited Shugborough with her mother, the

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom o ...

, as part of an extensive tour of the country. The young princess stayed with many local landowners at the time, including the Earl of Shrewsbury.McGilchrist, p. 48 Shugborough Tunnel Postcard

Passing from east to west through the southern part of the park is the

Trent Valley Line The Trent Valley line is a railway line between Rugby and Stafford in England, forming part of the West Coast Main Line. It is named after the River Trent which it follows. The line was built to provide a direct route from London to North West E ...

, planned in 1845. The railway is carried under the landscaped grounds in the Shugborough Tunnel and is thus largely invisible. The tunnel entrances, which are listed grade II, are notably ornamental, particularly the 1847 western entrance. An elegant stone bridge, also from 1847 and also listed grade II, about north-west of the Lichfield Lodge, carries the drive to the Hall over the railway. The double-track line is part of the West Coast Main Line, running north-west between

Colwich Junction Colwich Junction is a rail junction near the village of Little Haywood, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is the junction between two routes of the West Coast Main Line: the Trent Valley line and the Stone to Colwich cutoff line. The ...

and

Late 20th century and today

Following the death of the 4th earl in 1960, an agreement was reached whereby the estate would pass to the National Trust in lieu of death duties. The deal was finalised and the house opened to the public in 1966. The estate was immediately leased to Staffordshire County Council, who managed and maintained it on behalf of the National Trust, with Lord Lichfield retaining an apartment in the hall until his death in 2005, paying a nominal rent to the new owners. His successor, the 6th Earl, decided to relinquish the lease of the apartments, thus severing the family's direct links with the estate. In 2016 Staffordshire County Council handed the estate back to the National Trust, with 49 years remaining on its lease. The move is expect to save the council £35 million, with the Trust intending to renew investment in the property. Lichfield exhibition, Shugborough

The grounds and mansion house are open to the public. The attraction is marketed as "The Complete Working Historic Estate", which includes a working model farm museum dating from 1805 complete with a working watermill, kitchens, a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, a tea room, and rare breeds of farm animals. Originally restored in 1990, the estate's brewery is England's only log-fired brewery that still produces beer commercially. Previously used only on special occasions, the brewhouse has been a working exhibit since 2007, operated by Titanic Brewery. Since 2011 the private apartments have housed an exhibition of the work of Patrick Lichfield. His cameras and lighting gear have been set up in a recreation of his studio, and there is a gallery of some of his most famous photographic subjects.

Architecture

Interior

The state rooms

The

state room A state room in a large European mansion is usually one of a suite of very grand rooms which were designed for use when entertaining royalty. The term was most widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were the most lavishly decorated in ...

s at Shugborough Hall include The State Dining Room, The Red Drawing Room, The Library, The Saloon, The Verandah Room, The Anson Room and The State Bedroom. These contain some of the most opulent and highly decorated interiors in the hall.''The Mansion House'' The Verandah Room contains a 208-piece porcelain dinner service commissioned to commemorate Admiral Anson's circumnavigation of the globe in

HMS Centurion Eight ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Centurion'', after the centurions of ancient Rome. A ninth ship was planned but never built. Ships * was a 34-gun ship launched in 1650 and wrecked in 1689. * was a ...

. The dinner service was offered to Admiral Anson in gratitude for assisting in fighting the huge fires that were destroying the merchant district in Canton. (Story narrated by Shugborough guide October 2015). The State Bedroom overlooks the terrace and was occupied by Queen Victoria during her childhood visit. File:Shugborough interior 1 (4824600016).jpg, The State Dining Room File:Shugborough interior 2 (4824607792).jpg, The Red Drawing Room File:Shugborough Hall library.JPG, The Library

Private apartments

The private apartments were the living quarters of 5th Earl and his family until 2010. The Boudoir, with its silver gilt wallpaper, is the only room in the hall with hand-painted ceilings with gold detailing. Other rooms include The

Lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

and Yellow Bedrooms, The Sitting Room and the completely circular Breakfast Room.''Shugborough Revisited'' File:Shugborough interior ceiling 2 (4824614020).jpg, The hand-painted ceiling of The Boudoir File:Shugborough guests' bathroom.JPG, Guests' bathroom File:Shugborough green sitting room.JPG, Green sitting room, detail File:Shugborough bedroom.JPG, Bedroom

Exterior

In about 1693, William Anson (1656–1720) demolished the old house and created a new mansion. The entrance front, then facing to the west, comprised a balustraded, three-storey, seven-bayed central block. In about 1748 his great-grandson Thomas Anson (1767–1818) commissioned architect Thomas Wright to remodel the house, which was extended with flanking two-storey, three-bayed pavilions linked to the central block by pedimented passages. At the turn of the 19th century, the house was further altered and extended by architect Samuel Wyatt. The pavilions and passages were incorporated into the main building, and a new

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

ed entrance front with ten Ionic pillars was created at the east. These pillars resemble carved stone but are hollow timber structures. This was done for Thomas Anson, the 1st Viscount Anson and his wife Anne Margaret Coke, daughter of Thomas Coke, the 1st Earl of Leicester, whom he married in 1794. The hall, as it is seen today, is built in a neo-classical style and encased in

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

, sanded to resemble stone. File:Shugborough Hall Jones' Views 1829.jpg, Shugborough Hall in the 1820s File:Shugborough Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1350373.jpg, The 18th century Ionic

File:Shugborough rear 1.JPG, The rear façade of the hall File:Shugborough garden view.JPG, The garden from the house File:Stable block, Shugborough Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1350369.jpg, The stable block in 2009 File:Shugborough Hall 01.jpg, The hall seen from a hot air balloon File:River Sow at Shugborough Hall,.JPG, River Sow at the rear of the Hall File:Shugborough Hall farmhouse.JPG, The farmhouse

The park and follies

Like many landowners of his time, Thomas Anson (1695–1773) took a keen interest in the landscaping of his parkland. The land around Shugborough was largely flat, which ensured that trees, follies and water would play an important role in shaping the landscape.Black, p. 68 The grounds contain a number of follies, many of which, such as The Chinese House and two Chinese-style bridges, have a Chinese theme, in honour of Admiral George Anson. Admiral Anson, who had visited

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

, left a considerable sum of money to his brother Thomas Anson when he died, which was used to develop the hall and estate. The Chinese House and the red iron footbridge are both grade I listed. In 1760, Classical architect James Stuart was employed to design a number of monuments. Stuart had visited Athens in the early 1750s, and Ancient Greek influences are obvious at Shugborough. Staurt designed for Anson a copy of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates and a grade I listed triumphal arch based on the Arch of Hadrian in Athens.Black, p. 69

The Shepherd's Monument

The Shepherd's Monument is a stone and marble folly within the grounds of Shugborough hall, engraved with the inscriptions ''"O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V"'' and ''"D.M."''. The monument has been internationally well-known since 1982, when the book '' The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' drew attention to the mysterious

Shugborough inscription The Shugborough Inscription is a sequence of letters – O U O S V A V V, between the letters D M on a lower plane – carved on the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, below a mirror ima ...

. Carved by Peter Scheemakers, theories have abounded, including some which suggest it may indicate the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.Belfield, p. 112 file:Red Bridge and the Chinese House, Shugborough (geograph 3081592).jpg, The Chinese House file:Doric Temple, Shugborough Hall.jpg, The Doric Temple file:Shugborough shepherds monument.JPG, The Shepherd's Monument file:Tower of the Winds (4824631378).jpg, The Tower of the Winds file:Triumphal Arch at Shugborough (geograph 3625020).jpg, Arch of Hadrian

References and sources

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

{{commons category, Shugborough Hall
Shugborough Estate
- official site * List of paintings on show Agricultural museums in England Anson family Country houses in Staffordshire Farm museums in England Grade I listed parks and gardens in Staffordshire Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire Grade I listed houses Historic house museums in Staffordshire Living museums in England National Trust properties in Staffordshire Open-air museums in England Borough of Stafford Cannock Chase