An exciting, dynamic new series of lunchtime presentations for 2008
Shugborough covers much more than the historic and authentic presentation of gardening, farming, milling, dairying, housekeeping, cooking, laundering, brewing and estate management processes. In its heyday it was a centre for art, architecture, design and ideas.
We introduce a new series of speakers who have studied Shugborough from various points of view and are now anxious to share their knowledge with you. Talks will be presented in the Salon (in the Mansion House) starting at 1330 on the 1st Wednesday of each month April – October during the season. The 30-45 minute talks with visual aids may be followed in some cases by more extended visits to locations in the House or Estate for practical demonstrations (in the latter case the presentations will not continue beyond 1500). If you are intending to take lunch beforehand please ensure that you do so from 1200, and be in your seats in the Salon shortly after 1300: the talks are popular, accommodation is limited to 40 persons, and unfortunately when the seating is full or if you are late you will be turned away. Talks are free for all Season Pass Holders, National Trust members, and ticket holders
Dates for your diary
02 July 2008
Tony Burton, South Staffs Beekeepers
“Bees and honey”
Tony Burton has been keeping bees for fifteen years and now maintains about eight hives in the Stafford area, including those formerly at Haywood Park Farm near Shugborough. Some hives are now located at the back of the Shugborough Walled Garden. The presentation will be of modern beekeeping with some historical perspective.
06 August 2008
Dr Anne Andrews
“Links between Tixall and Shugborough”
Anne is an archaeologist and local historian of over forty years standing. The proximity between the Tixall Estate of the Cliffords (later sold to the Chetwynds of Ingestre) and Shugborough inevitably led to some interaction. The talk will discuss the renting by the Ansons of three fields belonging to the Tixall Estate; discussions between the Ansons and Cliffords between 1766 and 1771 for the building of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal; the rebuilding of the bridge over the River Sow originally at Hollis Ford in a new location at what is now Holdiford Road; and the supply of stone from Tixall Quarries to build the Triumphal Arch, the railway tunnel entrances and two bridges at Shugborough in 1846.
03 September 2008
Jeremy Milln, archaeologist, W. Midlands Region, National Trust, and
Frank Robson, amateur code-breaker
'The Shepherds’ Monument: Closing the gap between myth and reality'
Jeremy Milln has worked for the National Trust for nearly 20 years and has been responsible for a wide range of site and structure types across the Trust's estate in nine counties. He is more used to dealing with the archaeology of gardens, designed landscapes, and vernacular and industrial buildings, but Shugborough presents some particular and unusual challenges where conventional approaches may not wholly apply.
Frank Robson is, by profession, a senior automotive engineer. A local man, he became intrigued by Shugborough's much publicised invitation in 2005 for anyone to try to solve the riddle of the monument. He gave a short presentation at the 2006 Shugborough code-breakers weekend, but has since developed his thinking considerably. The enigmatic inscription on the Shepherds’ Monument has inevitably raised speculation about the involvement of the Ansons with mysticism: it has even been suggested that George Anson on one of his voyages brought back relics of the Holy Grail to be hidden somewhere on the Shugborough Estate. Others have suggested that the Zodiac, Jewish and Tarot systems of mythology were employed for a “plan” to indicate where on the estate the relics are buried.
Following a brief introduction to the Shepherds’ Monument and its place in the design of Shugborough Park, this talk - a double-act - will seek to explain and resolve the various caballic systems, alchemical symbolism, golden sections and so on which have been proposed. We will hear about a new geometrical interpretation of the monument as a map of the estate in the 18th Century, and there will be an account of some recent scientific research used to attempt to bottom out the ideas. Weather permitting, there will be a walk of about an hour after the talk to examine sightlines and other evidence.
01 October 2008
John Halsted, Assistant Project Manager, Birmingham Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham
“Shugborough Archaeology”
John Halsted has been involved in archaeological project management, consultancy, post-excavation analysis, field survey, supervision of excavations, report editing and illustration for several years. He is currently completing a PhD in Bronze Age settlement within Wales and the border counties, and is the author of “Bronze Age Settlement in the Welsh Marches” (Archaeopress BAR 385, 2005). Birmingham Archaeology, formerly Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit, is one of the leading independent archaeological contractors in the country, and has been employed for the 2005 excavations at Shugborough on the sites of the new car park and ticket office.
