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Meet the Neighbours - Shugborough Hall #80

The next house in this series is a mere half hour from Hoar Cross Hall and we often visited it during the summer months and later, when my children were born, we’d take them for a visit too!  Seated on the edge of Cannock Chase this elegant house was once a manor house owned by the Bishops of Lichfield, until the dissolution of the monasteries around 1540.  Later it came into the hands of the Anson family, who were ancestors of the Earls of Lichfield, and stayed there for three centuries.  William Anson’s grandson, also called William, demolished the manor house in 1693 and built a three storey building in the Neo-Classical style which forms the central p...

Summer Balls and Garden Parties #97

...on King's Shropshire Light Infantry played a popular programme of music on the terrace.  Tea was served in the afternoon and by 6pm guests were making their way home having enjoyed a thoroughly good day out, something which they probably talked about for weeks afterwards!   Celebrating the marriage of Hugo and Jean Meynell   When my family bought the Hall in 1970 we held Midsummer's Eve Balls, New Year's Eve Balls and people often hired the Hall to put on their own functions including Red cross Balls and County Show Balls.  Occasionally a local business would hire the house and grounds for a garden party during the summer months, one such local busin...