Rival Reviews: Shugborough Estate
A tale of two brothers.
It's a wheelchair, not a statue - sorry!
From a pair of adventurous brothers, to a high-fashion photographer in the swinging sixties, the Anson family of Shugborough estate are certainly an eclectic bunch.
George Anson and some of his plunder. Is the image big enough?
Travelling up and down the M6, I have often been tempted by a sign for Shugborough Estate, urging me off the motorway and into the countryside near Lichfield. What I would find if I followed the signs bidding is a country house estate in Staffordshire that until 1540, was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield, a situation ended definitively by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It passed through a few owners before ending up in the hands of William Anson, a lawyer, in 1624. The Anson family were not titled, but they were rich, and it wasn’t long until William Anson’s grandson, another William, demolished the original house and built his own, which still forms part of the property today. But it was in the hands of his sons, Thomas and George, that Shugborough really started ticking.
After his father’s unexpected death, Thomas, the elder of the brothers, abandoned his law degree and took an extended gap year. At this time, such a journey was known as the Grand Tour, taken by men of a certain class to learn all things classical in the places they had happened. As such, Thomas travelled to exotic locations such as Rome, Naples, Alexandria, Cyprus and Wales. He also later travelled to Egypt in the company of his brother.
Thomas was one of the founding members of the Society of the Dillentati, a gentleman's dining club set up in 1732 for those who had undertaken the Grand Tour. Think of it like the Riot Club if they had all studied Classics. The writer Horace Walpole had this to say of the club in 1743: “"... a club, for which the nominal qualification is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk: the two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy." Slay.
An intellectual by nature, Thomas became fascinated with ancient Greek and Roman antiquity, and coveted the architecture he found in the cradle of civilisation. When he returned from his travels, he vowed to transform Shugborough into a perfect Arcadian paradise in the neoclassical style.
Meanwhile, Thomas’ younger brother George was making waves of his own. Quite literally - he had joined the navy. In fact, George is now hailed as the father of the British Navy as we know it today. Joining at the age of only 14 and becoming captain at just 25, he was instrumental in setting up many of the rules and regulations still in effect today. In 1737, he took command of the ship Centurion and sailed off to conquer the Spanish in South America. It went badly. George also became the second Englishmen to circum-navigate the globe in 1740-44, after Sir Francis Drake, the Tudor explorer who had brought the potato to British soil, literally. During this trip, George became the first man-of-war to visit China, and many treasures at Shugborough reflect his time there and his interest in the culture.
In 1748, George married Elizabeth Yorke, daughter of the Earl of Hardwicke, and in 1748 secured his most significant victory, intercepting and attacking a Manila galleon laden with silver, securing enough treasure to set up himself and his brother’s fortune at Shugborough. Why this was a great victory I’m not sure because it sounds exactly like what pirates do. Whatever the case however, it was George’s cut of this fortune that allowed Thomas to go ahead and start creating his paradise, renovating buildings, creating ornamental garden features like waterways and cascades and of course, building follies in the Rococo fashion.
I fear the Chinese House looks slightly like a village hall.
First on the list for the brothers to build was the Chinese House, created in 1747 to celebrate George’s return from China, and based on his sketches while in Guangzhou. The house was originally designed in conjunction with a boathouse and erected on a island in the center of an artificial canal, but both sites are now long gone, fatalities of a flood in 1795. It turns out the Anson brothers were trendsetters, as the structure and its accompanying bridge was one of the first of many Chinese-inspired follies across England during the 18th century.
This was followed by several buildings and monuments over a series of years, all inspired by the Classical movement and Thomas’ travels in Athens, including the Shepherd's Monument, the Triumphal Arch and the Tower of Winds. When George and his wife died 1762 and 1760 respectively, Thomas in his grief dedicated the Triumphal Arch to them. He himself died childless and unmarried in 1773, but only after transforming the landscape of Shugborough into an Arcadian fantasy.
Because Thomas died without issue, the estate passed to his nephew, George Adams, who renamed himself as George Anson in order to inherit. It was his grandson Thomas II that was the next to enact great changes upon the estate when Shugborough eventually passed to him in 1789.
Thomas II, through marriage, acquired the title of 1st Viscount of Lichfield, and apparently decided that a new viscount required a new lawn. He redeveloped the parkland and agricultural estate around Shugborough, employing the eminent architect Samuel Wyatt to redo and extend the manor house and build a new model farm, which still operates today. (Note - model farm here refers to a small farm on which new and experimental agricultural techniques are tried and tested, not just like, a super tiny farm.) The Tower of Four Winds was converted into a dairy during this time.
The walled garden, its subtle but you can just about make out where the glasshouses were.
Thomas II also commissioned a walled garden, designed by John Webb. This space was high tech, tasked with growing only the very finest fruits and vegetables for the family’s dining table. Like the model farm, it was an area for agricultural innovation and boasted a number of glasshouses, now long lost to the past. The space was highly innovative; it was trapezium-shaped in design to capture max sunlight and the red brick walls were hollow, allowing hot air to permeate the garden and create a micro-climate. Two pools were placed on either side of the space, allowing gardeners to fill up watering cans with ease. The glass houses were heated using steam to keep a warm climate for the delicate plants within.
And it is here that our day trip begins. The walled garden is the first thing visitors encounter, and after we trek across from the overflow car park, we walk straight past it and head for a picnic bench for lunch instead. It is a beautiful day in Staffordshire.
Seating was found in the courtyard of the model farm, a space complete with (real) chickens and pigs for atmosphere. It is here that you can visit an exhibition on the farming techniques used in the 19th century. If you enjoy looking at farming equipment laid out on wooden tables in a loft you will certainly enjoy this. If not, you’re like me. Behind the farmhouse is the Temple of Four Winds, looking slightly incongruous next to the 19th century architecture, but still a little Palladian beauty, and no longer decked out like a dairy inside.
The walk to the house from the farm is amusingly long, especially in the hot weather we experienced, though I imagine worse times would be had in the rain. Anticipation at a peak, we approach the manor from the left side, passing first through the servants wing, which has a separate entrance to the main house. The tour shows a small sample of the rooms servants worked their asses off in, including the servant’s hall, kitchen, and laundry rooms. I really feel for the laundry maids, lye is no joke.
Some of the 'plinths' in Shugborough Hall.
Finally, it’s time to visit the house. Moving quickly to avoid frying in the sun, we go in through the original front entrance, not always a given at these properties. Inside, George and Thomas Anson’s story forms the nucleus of the interpretation, and their travels are well expressed through the decision to place key items of the houses collections on plinths made to resemble packing crates. This is an ingenious curatorial decision that adds brevity and relevance to this traditional country house, which is, I must admit, a difficult space to contextualise in the modern day, in a time of great austerity and during a cost of living crisis. A particularly memorable room displays George and Thomas’ portraits enlarged onto canvases shaped like ship’s sails, and a chandelier shaped like a sloop-of-war. I liked the irreverence a lot. Not to be missed either was the beautiful dining room, even with half the floor taken up with a large rug recovering from an infestation. I was also impressed by the interpretation throughout, which was interesting and succinct, offering many fun facts I will soon be using to impress friends who did not accompany me on this trip and won’t know any different.
The most unique section of the house however was a particularly baffling part of the tour was the apartments of Patrick Lichfield, 5th earl of Lichfield and last official occupant of the estate. Patrick became Earl by accident in 1960, when his grandfather died, two years after Patrick’s father had died from a fatal reaction to a bee sting (yes, Bridgerton). The new 5th Earl was a keen and professional photographer, and ran in the swingin’ circles of 60’s London alongside the likes of David Hockney and Roman Polanski (booo). His client list included Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, who visited Shugborough for a photo shoot in the 70’s. Meanwhile Patrick’s sister, Elizabeth, set herself up as a successful party planner, who’s client list included no less than Queen Elizabeth II. Not too shabby either.
However in 1966 Patrick was forced to turn over Shugborough to the National Trust, the maintenance for the estate proving too much. In the process he did manage to wangle a modest 35-room annexed flat in the corner of the manor however, so don’t feel too bad.
Because I couldn't take pictures in the flat I took this of the tapestry at the exit. I think you can get the idea.
The flat is beautiful, a real 70’s time capsule, and most of it is yellow, which is fun. Unfortunately the whole thing has been copyrighted. As best as I could figure, Patrick took some pictures in the 60’s which were sold to Getty images. As a result, the entire flat is a no photo zone and as such no other image can be taken of them? Or perhaps the photos on the walls were owned by Getty images and so they couldn’t be in a snapshot? It’s not really clear based on the signage.
Take my word for it however that this flat was a treat. You are not permitted to enter any rooms, but can explore the full width of a velvet rope that blocks each entrance from the central hallway. I would advise you to peer as far over as anatomy permits. The kitchen was particularly impressive, fitted out in the 1970’s and still with all the not-so-mod-cons of that time lovingly maintained. The bar cart (mostly champagne) is suitably aristocratic too, though I can only imagine the Moet & Chandon that was left out has long been flat.
The apartment was last lived in in the very early 2000’s, but I believe it has been redone to mirror those photos taken in the 70’s. So, if the stereotype that posh people have small telly’s is to be believed I cannot say, this flat has none at all.
Regardless, I have remarked in another review (Dunham Massey, I believe) that seeing recent history interspersed with the stereotypical 18th century vibe is an odd but not displeasing effect. Patrick Lichfield’s flat is not this. It is completely its own world, as if it were a point in time placed in a bubble and not a luxury apartment that has been annexed off and preserved for display by the National Trust.
A snapshot of the foliage orangery.
Unfortunately that is all there is to see in the house, though the famed gardens are just as exciting and fresh. One particularly impressive recent feature was the plant beds where the orangery used to stand. An apprentice gardener, inspired by the tropical plants that the structure would have held, has designed a small space to the same specifications as the orangery and filled the flower beds with tropical colour. Ropes hanging above promise that soon climbing plants will recreate the silhouette of the old building. It is beautiful.
Historically speaking, many of the buildings in Shugborough can be attributed to the architect James ‘Athenian’ Stewart; no prizes for guessing his specialty. Stewart came from humble beginnings, self-funding his own Grand Tour, rather than nicking money from someone else’s boat or something, and travelled to Italy to hone his talent in painting. There he learnt the classical languages and studied Italian and Roman architecture, and alongside fellow aspiring architect Nicholas Revett, he published a sketchbook: The Antiquities of Athens, when he returned in 1762. The book was partly a CV, and it worked. Almost all of Thomas Anson’s additions to the garden were the product of James Stewart, the result of a patronage that lasted many years.
For ease and clarity, Shugborough offers a monuments walk that passes almost all the main follies, except the Tower of Four Winds which is by the model farm, and the Triumphal Arch which is up its own special hill by the car park and I suppose can be visited free of charge, as long as you’re willing to climb. We didn’t. We just got in our car and went to the pub.
Lunch
Bought our own - homemade bread and jam, and orange slices! I’m sorry, I just really don't trust those National Trust sandwiches and I visit their houses a lot, I just can't afford that price for that food…
Is the cafe in the kitchens of stables?
In the farmyard and part of the servants quarters? You can't cheat the game this way!
Can I take my dog?
The walk from the farm to the house on its own is probably most of a dog walk - bring them along!
Can I take my kids?
Summer of Play was in full force, we even took part, I threw sand at my friend - it was fun!
Well, what did you think?
I found that a lot of the National Trust material for Shugborough featured the garden heavily. As a fan of garden’s I am not troubled by this, but I do think that he house, particularly the apartments fo Patrick Lichfield (though likely limited by copyright) and the Green Revival style of the interiors need their moment in the sun, particularly the dining room, which features some spectacular and unique works of art not often seen in English country houses. I am genuinely so impressed by the interpretation, a really fun idea that links well to the Anson brothers and brings their story to life, and I found the playfulness continued through contemporary landscaping choices in the garden. I also appreciated the 5th Earls apartment’s as a fascinating insight into how the upper crust really lived in these houses in the 20th century. The whole effect makes the house feel lived in and appreciated. Compliments to the chef.
BTW- the entrance of this property comes as a surprise, even to itself I expect; be prepared to do a tight turn after not indicating for nearly long enough, as I did.