Sheffield Manor Lodge, also known as Sheffield Manor or locally as Manor Castle, is a lodge built about 1516 in what then was a large deer park southeast of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, to provide a country retreat and further accommodate George Talbot, the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his large family. [1] The remnant of this estate is now known as Norfolk Park. The housing estate of Manor is named after Sheffield Manor Lodge.
The remains of Sheffield Manor Lodge include parts of the kitchens, long gallery, and the Grade II* listed Turret House (also called "Queen Mary's Tower"), which contains fine sixteenth-century ceilings.
Some evidence points to the Turret House being built by 1574, when the Earl of Shrewsbury's accounts record payments for masonry work on the "Tyrret" at Sheffield Manor. It has three storeys of two rooms. The stair at one corner rises above the building onto the roof. This seems to have been designed as a viewing platform and is comparable with the "Hunting Tower" at Chatsworth House. [2]
Mary, Queen of Scots, was held prisoner by the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury at both Sheffield Manor Lodge and Sheffield Castle (her ghost is said by some to haunt the Turret House building). Wolsey's Tower was built to accommodate Cardinal Wolsey, who then died after travelling on to Leicester.
Mary came to England in 1568 after her defeat at the battle of Langside seeking the support of the Catholic nobility. Mary's freedom was restricted after her cousin Elizabeth was advised of the threat that Mary posed to her own crown.
She was handed over to the custody of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury on 4 February 1569. Talbot had armed guards watching her constantly, however she was still able, with the help of the Duke of Norfolk and others of the Catholic nobility, to plot against Elizabeth. Several times Mary had to be moved to places of greater safety and stricter control.
On 28 November 1570 she was taken to the Earl of Shrewsbury's castle at Tutbury, where, apart from a few breaks at Chatsworth and Buxton, and more regular visits to Sheffield and the Manor House, she remained for 14 years.
Despite Mary's actions, Elizabeth still seemed to support her cousin's claim to the Scottish throne, and Mary wrote regularly to her supporters in Scotland asking them to be faithful and to await the help she believed Elizabeth would provide. Two of Mary's letters are preserved in the Sheffield Archives.
The Duke of Norfolk, not long released from the Tower of London, was caught in collusion with the papal agent Roberto di Ridolfi plotting to bring about a Catholic uprising in England. Parliament demanded the execution of both Mary Stuart and Norfolk. At this stage no action was taken against Mary, but the Duke of Norfolk was beheaded in 1572.
Mary, Queen of Scots, wrote for turtle doves and Barbary doves to keep in a cage as companions in her captivity at Sheffield. [3] A type of portrait showing her standing beside a table became known as the "Sheffield Portrait" because of two references to artists at work at Sheffield. In March 1577, Mary's secretary Claude Nau wrote that a painter was still working and had not yet perfected the Queen's image. [4] Mary sat for a portrait painter at Sheffield in August 1577. [5] She received a portrait of her son James VI at Sheffield in October 1582, sent by the French ambassador Michel de Castelnau. [6] Later collectors and historians thought Mary's embroiderer Pierre Oudry was a painter, and his name "P. Oudry Pinxit" was added Mary's portrait at Hardwick Hall. [7]
In 1582, while Mary was still being held at Sheffield, an inventory of all the household goods and furniture belonging to George, Earl of Shrewsbury was made. [8] The inventory describes the castle and contents and gives an idea of the types of rooms in the castle at this date. These included a chapel, a porch going into the great hall from the great chamber (which was probably the large dining room), a wardrobe, the Lord's chamber and outer chamber, the Lady's chamber, a bakehouse, brewhouse, pantry, washhouse and low washhouse, a round tower, a square tower and a turret, round towers on either side of the gatehouse and walls running along the waterside, a porter's lodge, a dungeon, a square room, little kitchen, old kitchen, a kennel and a range of stables. [9]
A 1583 inventory made by John Dickonson and William Catterall included the "stuff" of the "Queen of Scots and her people". Mary had a large entourage, which varied over time, made up of Scots, French and English friends and servants. The list of rooms for "her people" furnished by the Earl of Shrewsbury includes those of the Master of the queen's "howsholde"; her secretary Claude Nau; Mademoiselle Rallay; Mary Seton; Mr Burgoing her doctor; Gilbert Curle; Mr Jarvys her "surgion"; Bastian Pagez; the embroiderer Pierre Oudry (his name written as "Pyrawdrawe"); Dedier the pantryman; Hannibal; and Scottish servant Will Black. The 1582 survey also lists the furnishings "in the hawle at the Poandes", now known as the Old Queen's Head, which included painted canvas hangings. [10] [11] [12]
There was a slight earthquake on 16 February 1584. Mary wrote that her ladies were sitting on boxes and chairs working (on sewing and embroidery) on the Saturday evening when the tremor occurred. [13]
Mary kept up a secret correspondence with her allies. The letters, some encoded in cipher, [14] were carried by her supporters, including George More, a local man whose uncle had a house near Sheffield Manor. In 1583, Francis Walsingham investigated her letters and revealed the Throckmorton Plot. [15]
In August 1584 Queen Elizabeth finally agreed to Earl George's petition releasing him from his duty of Mary's care. The task which had broken his marriage, his health and his chances of further political advancement. After leaving Sheffield, Mary was taken to Wingfield Manor in Derbyshire by her new gaoler, Sir Ralph Sadler, and then to Tutbury. From there she went to Chartley Manor in Staffordshire, where she became involved in the Babington Plot.
Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury stayed at Sheffield Lodge. He wrote in December 1604 that they had, "no other music this Christmas than the waits of the next town, besides a taber and a whistle". [16] The Earl had gout and wrote in September 1607 that he was laid up on a couch at Sheffield Lodge, "neither fit for football nor tennis". [17]
After Sheffield Manor fell into the hands of the Duke of Norfolk, it was neglected, sold to tenant farmers, and largely dismantled in 1706. Some remaining walls and a window were removed to the grounds of Queen's Tower in Norfolk Park by Robert Marnock in 1839. In 1953 the Duke of Norfolk Estate leased the site to Sheffield City Council for 999 years. [18]
In 2004, the building featured on the BBC TV programme Restoration and was the subject of a National Lottery funding bid to convert it to a heritage centre and traditional farm. Green Estate, which was established by the Manor and Castle Development Trust and Sheffield Wildlife Trust, received £1.25 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the Turret House and develop the site as a visitor attraction. [18]
The Sheffield Manor Lodge visitor attraction includes the Turret house, Tudor grounds, Discovery Centre, and Rhubarb Shed Cafe. The Turret House is open to the public every Sunday between April and September, in Sheffield school holidays and on special event days. [19]
Elizabeth Cavendish, later Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, known as Bess of Hardwick, of Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, was a notable figure of Elizabethan English society. By a series of well-made marriages, she rose to the highest levels of English nobility and became enormously wealthy. Bess was reportedly a shrewd businesswoman, increasing her assets with business interests including mines and glass-making workshops.
Lady Arbella Stuart was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I, she married William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, another claimant to the English throne, in secret. King James imprisoned William Seymour and placed her under house arrest. When she and her husband tried to escape England, she was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she died at age 39.
Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland and Earl Talbot (1784) in the Peerage of Great Britain. Shrewsbury and Waterford are the oldest earldoms in their peerages held by someone with no higher title, and as such the Earl of Shrewsbury is sometimes described as the premier earl of England and Ireland.
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 6th Earl of Waterford, 12th Baron Talbot, KG, Earl Marshal (c. 1522/1528 – 18 November 1590) was an English magnate and military commander. He also held the subsidiary titles of 15th Baron Strange of Blackmere and 11th Baron Furnivall. He was best known for his tenure as keeper of Mary, Queen of Scots between 1568 and 1585, his marriage to his second wife Elizabeth Talbot, as well as his surviving collection of written work.
Wingfield Manor is a ruined manor house left deserted since the 1770s, near the village of South Wingfield and some four miles (6.4 km) west of the town of Alfreton in the English county of Derbyshire. There is a working farm that forms part of the old manor.
Tutbury Castle is a largely ruined medieval castle at Tutbury, Staffordshire, England, in the ownership of the Duchy of Lancaster and hence currently of King Charles III. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. People who have stayed in the castle include Eleanor of Aquitaine and Mary, Queen of Scots, who was a prisoner there.
George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, 4th Earl of Waterford, 10th Baron Talbot, KG, KB, PC was the son of John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury, and Lady Catherine Stafford, daughter of the 1st Duke of Buckingham. He also held the subsidiary titles of 13th Baron Strange of Blackmere and 9th Baron Furnivall.
Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, 7th Earl of Waterford, 13th Baron Talbot, KG, styled Lord Talbot from 1582 to 1590, was a peer in the peerage of England. He also held the subsidiary titles of 16th Baron Strange of Blackmere and 12th Baron Furnivall.
William Fowler was a Scottish poet or makar, writer, courtier and translator.
Worksop Manor is a Grade I listed 18th-century country house in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire. It stands in one of the four contiguous estates in the Dukeries area of Nottinghamshire. Traditionally, the Lord of the Manor of Worksop may assist a British monarch at his or her coronation by providing a glove and putting it on the monarch's right hand and supporting his or her right arm. Worksop Manor was the seat of the ancient Lords of Worksop.
Claude Nau or Claude Nau de la Boisseliere was a confidential secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, in England from 1575 to 1586. He was involved in coding Mary's letters with cipher keys.
Bastian Pagez was a French servant and musician at the court of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was born in Auvergne. He devised part of the entertainment at the baptism of Prince James at Stirling Castle in 1566. When Mary was exiled in England, Bastian and his family continued in her service. The 19th-century historians Agnes Strickland and William Barclay Turnbull considered his court role as equivalent to the English Master of the Revels; in England he was Mary's chamber valet and designed her embroidery patterns.
The Oxburgh Hangings are needlework bed hangings that are held in Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, England, made by Mary, Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick, during the period of Mary's captivity in England.
Sir Henry Hardwick Cavendish (1550–1616) was the eldest son of the Tudor courtier William Cavendish, and Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, known as "Bess of Hardwick". He served in the Netherlands as a captain in 1578, and was the MP for Derbyshire five times, but did not participate greatly in politics. Cavendish was also a notorious libertine, and was disinherited by his mother, who held his wardship after his father's death. After his mother's death in 1608 Cavendish inherited the Chatsworth estate, but not its contents, and he sold it to his brother William, who later became the 1st Earl of Devonshire, in the following year. He had a number of illegitimate children, but no legitimate heirs.
Sir Charles Cavendish was an English landowner. He was a son of Bess of Hardwick and William Cavendish (1505–1557).
Mademoiselle Rallay or Madame Raylie was a Scottish courtier. She served as chamberwoman and then lady-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots. She was described as one of Mary's favorites. She should not be confused with her niece Renée Rallay, also known as Beauregard, who also served Mary, Queen of Scots.
George More was an English supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a participant in the Throckmorton Plot. A Catholic exiled in the Spanish Netherlands, he visited the royal court of Scotland in 1598.
Elizabeth or Bess Pierrepont (1568–1648) was a gentlewoman in household of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary hoped that she could be trained to join the household of Queen Elizabeth, and prevented her marrying as her father wished.
Henry Middlemore was an English courtier and diplomat.
Jean or Jehan Champhuon, sieur du Ruisseau was a French lawyer and an administrator and chamberlain of the estates of Mary, Queen of Scots. He served on her French council.
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