Shugborough Hall - a brief history

At our May meeting we welcomed Judy Hubble, who gave us a fascinating talk on Shugborough Hall. After working at Shugborough for 8 years, Judy was made redundant by The National Trust, 2 years ago. She worked in various departments and was lucky to have a scenic walk to work across the Essex Bridge. This is a listed packhorse bridge over the River Trent and was built in the late sixteenth century by the Earl of Essex, who lived nearby at Chartley Castle. It is now the longest remaining packhorse bridge in England with 14 of its original 42 round span arches left.

The Shugborough estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It then passed through several hands before being purchased in 1624 by William Anson, a local lawyer and ancestor of the Earls of Lichfield.

In 1693, William Anson’s grandson, also called William, demolished the existing manor house and constructed a three storey building which still forms the central part of the hall. In 1695 William’s elder son, Thomas Anson, further extended the house by adding two pavilions flanking either side of the central block. It was Thomas’s younger brother, George, however, who would fund these changes. Admiral George Anson amassed a great fortune during his naval career. On one of his sailing expeditions he captured the Nuestra Senora de Covadonga with over 1 million pieces of eight on board. The prize money earned from the capture of the galleon made Anson a rich man for life and bought him considerable political influence.

George and Thomas both died childless and the estate passed to their sister’s son, George Adams, who adopted the surname Anson by royal licence. George’s son Thomas was created Earl of Lichfield. He led an extravagant lifestyle and amassed several large debts, resulting in the estate having to be heavily mortgaged. A Thomas Francis Anson was able to pay the mortgage off.

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.

The talk was enjoyed by all and Judy gave a very informative insight into the history of Shugborough.

This year there are two resolutions to be voted on at the Bournemouth meeting in June. They are ‘A call against the decline in local bus services’ and ‘ Don’t fear the smear’. We voted unanimously for the resolutions.

The May Market was a great success and we raised over £700. Thank you to everyone who helped and supported this event. It is our centenary next year and we hope to fund a few visits and events.

Details of our June birthday meeting were finalised and several trips and craft competitions were announced.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday June 12th, which is our birthday meeting. We will have Holly Reynolds singing 50’s and 60’s music. This is a members only meeting but visitors are very welcome at our July meeting when we will have David Cheshire talking about Bonsai Trees. We meet in Yoxall Parish Hall and further details can be obtained from Penny Bailey through the link below.