Trust in Me - Revisiting Shugborough

Yesterday, we returned to the Shugborough Estate in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire, a half-hour drive from home for another winter walk.

The house is closed until the Spring but the grounds are open every day.

Best known as the ancestral home of Patrick, Earl of Lichfield, the celebrated British society photographer, Shugborough Hall is built on the site of a moated medieval bishop's castle. The castle was bought by the wealthy Anson family in 1624 for £4,000 (a fortune at the time) but was torn down in 1693 to create a more modest country house. The building was enlarged in 1745 by architect Thomas Wright to create the elegant Georgian mansion that stands today.

Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield 1929 - 2005

Thomas Anson (1695 - 1773), great-grandson of the original owner, inherited the Shugborough Estate in 1762 from his brother, George who had died heirless. George Anson joined the navy as a 14 year-old boy and rose through the ranks to become the First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1740 he commenced an epic 4-year voyage circumnavigating the world. On the journey, he captured a Spanish treasure ship laden with £400,000, the largest haul ever seized by an English sea captain. 

The recently restored Tower of the Winds, a replica of Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes in Athens (built in 1765)

Thomas had been on the Grand Tour as a young man where he'd developed a passion for classical Greek art and commissioned his friend, the architect James Stuart, to reproduce classical monuments in the grounds of Shugborough.

 

Designed by Thomas Wright in 1750 as a folly, The Ruin was once more extensive, was composed of parts of the original manor house and included a Gothic pigeon house. 

After Thomas's death, the family fortune leaked through the hands of his grandson, also called Thomas (1795 - 1854), who gambled his vast inheritance away. In 1842 the contents of the estate was auctioned to raise funds. In 1960, in lieu of his grandfather's death duties, the 5th Earl, Patrick Lichfield, gave the Shugborough estate to the National Trust. For many years it was looked after by Staffordshire County Council until the National Trust took over the administration in 2019.

The estate is still occupied by the Earls of Lichfield and has a working farm and several varieties of rare breeds of livestock.

Our favourites are these teddy bear-faced sheep. They aren't at all bothered by visitors, as you can see.

The design for the Chinese House was taken from sketches made in Canton by Sir Percy Brett, who accompanied Admiral Anson during his circumnavigation of the globe. It was completed in 1747, making it one of the earliest examples of oriental design in the country and a precursor to the Chinese Pavilion at Kew.

Yesterday was another perfect winter's day, crisp and icy cold with temperatures hovering at -2°C and the sunshine so bright we needed sunglasses. Several people stopped and admired my outfit.

 

This swan and his mate accompanied us on our stroll along the riverbank.

Spooky mist!

Built in the late 1750s, the Shepherd’s Monument takes its name from its central marble relief by Dutch artist Peter Scheemakers and originally formed part of the kitchen garden wall. The outer columns of the monument were added later, in 1763 by James Stuart.

What we hadn't done on previous visits was to climb up to Hadrian's Arch, almost identical to the one found in Athens and built in the early 1760s by James Stewart as a memorial for Thomas Anson's late brother George and his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Yorke.

Amongst the ancient graffiti carved on the stone, we were astonished to discover the signature of a J Beavis, who visited the arch on exactly the same day as us, one-hundred and twenty-three years earlier, what a bizarre coincidence!

We stood transfixed by the antics of the deer in the field below us. 

After a couple of hours of wandering about, we returned to Patrice for a car picnic of cheese sandwiches and tin mugs of tea with 6Music for company....the perfect day.

See you soon!

PS We became members of the National Trust in 2016 and pay £10 a month via Direct Debit giving us free entry (and parking) to over 500 properties (join HERE). Non-Brits, if you're thinking of visiting the UK you can buy a one or two-week tourist pass from the National Trust (info HERE).