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Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England.
The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford 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. The estate remained in the Anson family 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, 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.
William's elder son, Thomas Anson MP (1695-1773), further extended the house in the 1740s, adding two pavilions flanking either side of the central block. These changes were funded by Thomas's younger brother, Admiral George Anson, created Lord Anson in 1747 and First Lord of the Admiralty in 1751. He had 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, and his son, the 2nd viscount, was created 1st Earl of Lichfield in the 1831 Coronation Honours. 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 Thomas George Anson, 2nd Earl of Lichfield did much to restore the house and contents to its former glory, by the time his son inherited the estate it was heavily .
In 1831, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, the future Queen Victoria, then 13, visited Shugborough with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, as part of an extensive tour of the country. The young princess stayed with many local landowners at the time, including John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury.McGilchrist, p. 48
Passing from east to west through the southern part of the park is the Trent Valley Line, planned in 1845. The railway runs underground in the Shugborough Tunnel and therefore has minimal visual impact. The tunnel entrances, which are listed building, are highly decorated, in particular the western approach which dates from 1847. The drive to the hall is carried over the tunnel by a bridge, about north-west of the Lichfield Lodge, which also dates from 1847 and also listed at grade II. The double-track line is part of the West Coast Main Line, running north-west between Colwich Junction and Stafford.
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.
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, , a dairy, 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.
The Verandah Room contains a 208-piece porcelain dinner service commissioned to commemorate Admiral Anson's circumnavigation of the globe in HMS Centurion. 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.
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 entrance front with ten Ionic order pillars was created at the east. These pillars resemble carved stone but are hollow timber structures. This was done for Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson and his wife Anne Margaret Coke, daughter of Thomas Coke, 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, sanded to resemble stone.
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. Stuart 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
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 and Yellow Bedrooms, The Sitting Room and the completely circular Breakfast Room. Shugborough Revisited
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.
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 Folly, many of which, such as The Chinese House and two Chinese-style bridges, have a chinoiserie, in honour of Admiral George Anson. Admiral Anson, who had visited Guangzhou, 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.
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. Carved by Peter Scheemakers, theories have abounded, including some which suggest it may indicate the whereabouts of the Holy Grail.Belfield, p. 112
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Categories: 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 Houses In Staffordshire, Historic House Museums In Staffordshire, Living Museums In England, National Trust Properties In Staffordshire, Open-air Museums In England, Borough Of Stafford, Cannock Chase
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