Weston Park is a country house in

Weston-under-Lizard Weston-under-Lizard is a village in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It constitutes a civil parish with Blymhill, called Blymhill and Weston-under-Lizard. It is known as Weston-under-Lizard (the name of a hill in near ...

, Staffordshire, England, set in more than of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located north-west of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, and north-east of

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

, close to the border with

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. The 17th-century Hall is a

Grade I listed building 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 ...

and several other features of the estate, such as the

Orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

and the Stable block, are separately listed as Grade II. Weston Park House and the surrounding parkland were given to the nation in 1986 by the 7th Earl of Bradford, with the support of the

National Heritage Memorial Fund The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund which had fulfilled the ...

. It is now in the care of the trustees of the Weston Park Foundation. The house retains its art collection with over 30,000 objects and is open to the public.

History

Weston lies within land that was first mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

when it was held by

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

Rainald de Bailleuil, Sheriff to

Roger de Montgomery Roger de Montgomery (died 1094), also known as Roger the Great, was the first Earl of Shrewsbury, and Earl of Arundel, in Sussex. His father was Roger de Montgomery, seigneur of Montgomery, a member of the House of Montgomerie, and was probably ...

. The park is all that remains of the medieval deer park and forest. Originally belonging to the de Westons of Weston, it passed by inheritance to a branch of the Mytton family when their heiress, Elizabeth Mytton married Sir Thomas Wilbraham. Eventually the land passed to Earls of Bradford when their younger daughter, Mary Wilbraham, married Richard Newport, 2nd Earl of Bradford of the first creation. The house was built in 1671 for Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham. Although it is often claimed that she was her own architect, there is no conclusive documentary evidence for this and it is most likely that the executant architect was William Taylor, who is known to have been at Weston Park in 1674. Lady Wilbraham was evidently an enthusiastic patron, however, and her heavily-annotated copy of Palladio’s book (''

I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura ''I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (''The Four Books of Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture by the architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), written in Italian. It was first published in four volumes in 1570 in Venice, illustrated wi ...

'') remains in the collection at Weston Park. The three-storey, twelve-bayed south front of the house was originally the entrance front but alterations and improvements carried out in the latter 19th century for

Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford Orlando George Charles Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford, PC, DL (24 April 1819 – 12 March 1898), styled Viscount Newport between 1825 and 1865, was a British courtier and Conservative politician. In a ministerial career spanning over thirty ...

of the second creation involved the movement of the main entrance to the east front. The original courtyard of the "U"-shaped house was roofed over above the ground floor, and closed off by a new front. In the eighteenth century, with the failure of the male line of the Newport Earls of Bradford, Weston was inherited by Sir Henry Bridgeman, 5th Baronet, whose mother Lady Anne Bridgeman (née Newport) was a granddaughter of Lady Wilbraham. The Bridgemans were already substantial landowners in Shropshire and in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

but chose to make Weston their main seat. Sir Henry Bridgeman commissioned Capability Brown to landscape the park. He also employed James Paine in the 1760s to make alteration to the house and to add a Roman Bridge and Temple of Diana in the park.

Art collection

The collection includes many portraits from the 17th to 20th centuries, with rare pieces such as two portraits of ladies of the Wilbraham family by

John Michael Wright John Michael Wright (May 1617 – July 1694) was an English or Scottish (he signed as both at times) portrait painter in the Baroque style. Wright trained in Edinburgh under the Scots painter George Jamesone, and acquired a considerable rep ...

, two early portraits by John Constable, and two portraits of apparently the same child by

Sofonisba Anguissola Sofonisba Anguissola ( – 16 November 1625), also known as Sophonisba Angussola or Sophonisba Anguisciola, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a well-rounded education that i ...

. Most major English 18th-century portraitists are represented, and there are a number of portraits by Anthony van Dyck and his workshop; that of Sir Thomas Hanmer is especially fine. There is a

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds, Reynold ...

of horses, and a pair of coastal scenes by

Claude Joseph Vernet Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter. Life and work Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...

(''Calm'' and ''Storm''). There is a rare

toilet service A toilet service is a set of objects for use at the dressing table. The term is usually reserved for large luxury sets from the 17th to 19th centuries, with toilet set or vanity set used for later or simpler sets. Historically, services were ...

in silver of 1679, one of only 12 English-made early services left in the country. There is good furniture, including many pieces made for the house by

Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gentleman and Ca ...

, and a room with tapestries from the Gobelins Manufactory made for Weston in the 1760s. The elaborately embroidered ceremonial purse (or "burse") of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, in his office of

Lord Keeper of the Great Seal The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain, was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. This position evolved into that of one of the Great Officers of S ...

(1667–72), is displayed next to a portrait of him with it.

Beyond the house

Paines Bridge, Temple Pool (geograph 1942122)

Adjacent to the house is the estate church, dedicated to

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Pete ...

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

describes the church as "an enterprise of Lady Wilbraham... f1700-1". The

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

, stable block, and granary, which all adjoin the house, have their own Grade II listings. The 1767 Granary building was restored in 2009 with support from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands. There are gardens and a large park, which includes a lake and a

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petro ...

. The Grade I listed Roman Bridge crosses the Temple Pool in a single stone built arch. The Grade I listed Temple of Diana is actually an

and garden house. Built in stone ashlar in three bays and fronted with ionic columns, the interior is decorated with painted panels by Giovanni Battista Innocenzo Colombo, depicting the life of the goddess Diana. Paine later described the temple as "my greenhouse at Weston". Weston Hall suggests that hall and gardens were the inspiration for

Blandings Castle Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth (Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth), home to many of his family and the setting for numerous ta ...

in the

Lord Emsworth Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl Emsworth, commonly known as Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle series of stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of t ...

stories by P.G. Wodehouse.

Visits and festivals

King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

's daughter Mary, the Princess Royal spent part of her honeymoon at Weston. In 1998 the

G8 Summit The Group of Eight (G8) was an inter-governmental political forum from 1997 until 2014. It had formed from incorporating Russia into the Group of Seven, or G7, and returned to its previous name after Russia left in 2014. The forum originated ...

Retreat was held at the house with heads of State or government present including US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

and Russian President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

. From 1999 until 2017 the grounds of Weston Park were used as one of the sites of the annual dual-site

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

sponsored V Festival, the other site being

Hylands Park Hylands House is a Grade II* neo-classical villa situated within Hylands Park a 232-hectare (574 acre) park southwest of Chelmsford in Essex in South East England. It is owned and operated by Chelmsford City Council. History The last private ...

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

. The park is the site for the annual Midland Game Fair which takes place on the third weekend of September. The fair, which consists of traditional British country pursuits including working dog trials, fishing and animal husbandry, attracts up to 50,000 visitors from both Britain and Ireland.

Gallery

File:Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham by Sir Peter Lely.jpg, Lady

Elizabeth Wilbraham Elizabeth, Lady Wilbraham (née Mytton; 14 February 1632 – 27 July 1705) was a member of the English aristocracy, who traditionally has been identified as an important architectural patron. It has been suggested that she was the first woman ar ...

, the possible architect of Weston, by Sir Peter Lely, one of the portraits in the collection File:Portrait of Mary Wilbraham.jpg, Mary Wilbraham by

File:Portrait of Grace Wilbraham.jpg, Grace Wilbraham by

File:Weston Park House Main Entrance 2018-07-001.jpg, Main entrance File:Stable block - geograph.org.uk - 1523600.jpg, Stable block File:The Temple - geograph.org.uk - 1523609.jpg, Temple of Diana File:Toilet Service at Weston Park, Staffs DSCF1061 10.jpg, Ceremonial purse of Sir Orlando Bridgeman,

, 1667–72, at Weston Park File:Toilet Service at Weston Park, Staffs DSCF1061 14.jpg, The 1679

Footnotes

References

Sources

External links

Official siteAerial view estate mapPhotos of Weston Park and surrounding area on geograph
{{Authority control Houses completed in 1671 Country houses in Staffordshire South Staffordshire District Country parks in Staffordshire Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire Historic house museums in Staffordshire Bridgeman family Gardens by Capability Brown 1671 establishments in England