- medieval hospitals
- bloodletting
- Burton Abbey and its monks
- St Modwen
- [the Manor House]
the Manor House
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south-east view of church and Manor House by Rev. Stebbing Shaw, 1798 |
The Paget family's main residence was Beaudesert House in Cannock Chase. But before this was built, they often occupied the Manor House within the precincts of the former Burton abbey.
When they stayed there, they lived in grand style. An inventory of c. 1580 shows that there were over 60 rooms, many handsomely furnished. On occasion, the household staff numbered 75 persons, and in the first week of January of that year, there were 14 guests staying in the house, including the sheriff of Staffordshire.
When Burton Abbey was granted to its new owner in 1546, William Paget began planning to expand the Manor House -- known to have existed since at least 1514 -- into a grand mansion. A plan of 1562 shows that the house was to have three storeys and a long gallery. To provide the materials for this project, the old abbey buildings were to be cannibalised.
It is not known how much of this ambitious plan was actually carried into effect. William's death in 1563 and the death of his eldest son Henry a few years later, delayed further building. Thomas, the 3rd Baron Paget and William's second son, concentrated on building Beaudesert House before the family estates were confiscated and the title lost in 1583, because of his complicity in the Throckmorton plot to overthrow Elizabeth I and place Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. In 1597, William, 4th Baron Paget, was restored to his estates and to his title in 1603.
Many of the former abbey buildings were in a ruinous condition when, in 1621, the Manor House was leased to Richard Almond. In his lease, he was given permission to allow to decay even further certain of the abbey buildings -- including the 'great hall near the Trent', which may have been the present Abbey Inn pub. Manor House itself underwent major alteration in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The present building is made mainly of brick, but formerly it was stone and timber-framed. The early 19th-century range occupies the site of a medieval great hall; the attic has a medieval roof of exceptional quality.
See also Manor House team
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