The Royal Oak was the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. Charles told Samuel Pepys in 1680 that while he was hiding in the tree, a Parliamentarian soldier passed directly below it. The story was popular after the Restoration, and is remembered every year in the English traditions of Royal Oak Day.
Boscobel House is a Grade II* listed building in the parish of Boscobel in Shropshire. It has been, at various times, a farmhouse, a hunting lodge, and a holiday home; but it is most famous for its role in the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Today it is managed by English Heritage.
Himley Hall is an early 17th-century country house situated in Staffordshire, England. It is situated in the south of the county in the small village of Himley, near to the town of Dudley and the city of Wolverhampton. Himley Hall is a Grade II* listed building. Its park and garden, which were extended in the 1770s by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, are Grade II listed with the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than 1,000 acres (400 ha) of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located 10 miles (16 km) north-west of Wolverhampton, and 8 miles (13 km) east of Telford, close to the border with Shropshire. The 17th-century Hall is a Grade I listed building and several other features of the estate, such as the Orangery and the Stable block, are separately listed as Grade II.
Brewood is an ancient market town in the civil parish of Brewood and Coven, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Located around grid reference SJ883088, Brewood lies near the River Penk, eight miles north of Wolverhampton city centre and eleven miles south of the county town of Stafford. A few miles to the west of Brewood is the border with the county of Shropshire.
Maer Hall is a large Grade II listed 17th-century country house in Maer, Staffordshire, set in a park which is listed Grade II in Historic England's Register of Parks and Gardens
Bonaventure Giffard (1642–1734) was a Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District of England from 1687 to 1703 and Vicar Apostolic of the London District of England from 1703 to 1734.
Patshull Hall is a substantial Georgian mansion house situated near Pattingham in Staffordshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and by repute is one of the largest listed buildings in the county.
Somerford Hall is an 18th-century Palladian style mansion house at Brewood, Staffordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Black Ladies Priory was a house of Benedictine nuns, located about 4 km west of Brewood in Staffordshire, on the northern edge of the hamlet of Kiddemore Green. Founded in the mid-12th century, it was a small, often struggling, house. It was dissolved in 1538, and a large house was built on the site in Tudor and Jacobean styles by the Giffard family of Chillington Hall. Much of this is incorporated in the present Black Ladies, a large, Grade II*-listed, private residence.
Sir John Giffard, of Chillington in Brewood, was a soldier, courtier, member of the English Parliament and Staffordshire landowner, who made his mark mainly during the reign of Henry VIII.
Sir Thomas Giffard was a Tudor courtier, Staffordshire landowner and Member of the English Parliament.
John Giffard (1534–1613) was a Staffordshire landowner and Member of the English Parliament, notable as a leader of Roman Catholic Recusancy in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I.
Humphrey Swynnerton was a Staffordshire landowner, a Member of the English Parliament and an Elizabethan recusant.
St Dominic's Grammar School is a private day school for girls and boys aged 2 to 18 in the village of Brewood, Staffordshire, England. The school is centered on a large Victorian brick building in rural Staffordshire, just north of Wolverhampton. Founded in 1920 by the Dominican Order resident in Staffordshire, it is now an inter-denominational school but retains its Christian ethos and the historic logo featuring the cross from the order's seal.
St. John's Church is a Grade II* listed Church of England parish church in Wolverhampton.
Speedwell Castle is a mid-18th-century house at the centre of Brewood, Staffordshire, between Wolverhampton and Stafford. Described by Pevsner as a "peach" and a "delectable folly", it stands beside the village market place, at the head of a T-junction on Bargate Street, facing onto Stafford Street.
St Peter and St Paul Church is a Roman Catholic Parish church in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It was built from 1826 to 1828, with extensions being built in 1901 and 1928. It was designed by Joseph Ireland and the architect for the extension in 1901 was Edward Goldie. It is built as part of Giffard House, which is now a presbytery for the church. It is situated on Paternoster Row, between Wolverhampton City Council and the Ring Road St Peters. Both the church and Giffard House are a Grade II* listed building.
Brewood and Coven is a civil parish in the district of South Staffordshire, Staffordshire, England. It contains 137 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, eleven are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The parish contains the villages of Brewood, Coven, and Bishops Wood and the surrounding area. In the parish are three country houses, which are listed together with buildings in their grounds and estates. Two canals run through the parish, the Shropshire Union Canal and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, and the listed buildings associated with these are bridges, mileposts, and an aqueduct. Most of the other listed buildings are houses and associated structures, cottages, farmhouses, farm buildings, shops and offices, the earlier of which are timber framed or have timber framed cores. The other listed buildings include churches and associated structures, monuments in a churchyard, a holy well, road bridges, a public house, a war memorial, and a telephone kiosk.
John William Giffard is a British retired police officer. Adopted into an aristocratic family that owns Chillington Hall, he joined Staffordshire Police in 1973 as a beat bobby. After serving as a staff officer to the chief constable and a divisional commander he moved to North Yorkshire Police in 1991 to take up a position as assistant chief constable. Giffard returned to Staffordshire Police in 1996 to become its chief constable, a role he held for a record ten years. As chief constable he reorganised the force's divisions and introduced the Major Investigations Department. During his tenure car theft and burglaries dropped and there were no undetected murders. Giffard also served on secondment to the Home Office to assist with a review into options to merge police forces in England and Wales. His work was recognised with the award of the Queen's Police Medal and appointment as a commander of the Order of the British Empire.
