History
The Shugborough estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the Dissolution of the Monasteries around 1540 and therefter passed through several hands until it was purchased in 1624 by William Anson, a lawyer, of Dunston, Staffordshire
In about 1693 his grandson William Anson (1656–1720) demolished the old house and created a new mansion. The entrance front then to the west, comprised a balustraded three-storey, seven-bayed central block . In about 1748 his great grandson Thomas Anson 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 18th century the house was further altered and extended by architect Samuel Wyatt, when the pavilions and passages were incorporated into the main building and a new porticoed entrance front with ten Doric order pillars was created at the east. 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. Styled Viscountess Anson in 1806, Anne Margaret Coke Anson died in London in 1843 and was buried at Shugborough.
Around 1750 the architect James "Athenian" Stuart, created a number of follies and monuments in the grounds. These include the Tower of Winds (based on one in Greece), the Chinese House (a Chinese-style pagoda), a triumphal arch based on Hadrian's, a Doric Temple, the Cat's Monument, and the Shepherd's Monument.
The grounds are connected to the village of Great Haywood by the Essex Bridge, built in the Middle Ages, and contain numerous sculptures in addition to Stuart's follies.
Nearby is Milford Hall, the estate of the Levett Haszard family, who are related to the Ansons and who sit on the board at Shugborough.
Read more about this topic: Shugborough Hall
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