Drayton Manor
Drayton Manor,one ofBritain's lost houses,was a Britishstately homeatDrayton Bassett,since its formation in theDistrict of Lichfield,Staffordshire,England.In modern administrative areas, it was first put into Tamworth Poor Law Union and similar Rural Sanitary District, 1894 to 1934 saw its inclusion in Tamworth Rural District, and in the next forty years it lay in the 1974-abolished Lichfield Rural District.[1]
History
[edit]The manor was owned from the time of theNorman conquestby the Bassett family until in the 13th century.[2]The male line failed and Margaret Bassett, heiress to the estate, married Edmund Lord Stafford.[2]The estate remained in the ownership of theEarl of Stafforduntil theattainderand execution of the Duke of Buckingham (the 7th Earl) in 1483, when it passed to the Crown.[2]Thereafter several owners included theEarl of Leicesterand, from about 1600, theEarl of Essex.[2]The latter's descendants sold the estate in about 1790 toRobert Peel(1750–1830) a Lancashire textile manufacturer, who wasMember of ParliamentforTamworth1790–1820.[2]Following his death in 1830, his sonRobert Peel(1788–1850), who followed his father into the Tamworth seat and later became Prime Minister, demolished the old manor house and its three storey banqueting house, and replaced it with a grand mansion (incorporating a three storey tower) designed in theElizabethan styleby architectRobert Smirke.[2]
In 1843 Drayton Manor received a royal visit fromQueen Victoriaand Prince Albert.[2]In farms of the estate the firstTamworth pigswere bred, their place of market being Tamworth.
The house ceased to be the principal residence of the Peel family and in 1926 it was demolished. Only the clock tower now remains. The site was sold in 1949 to the Bryan family for the creation of leisure gardens which were later developed to become theDrayton Manor Resort.The nearest large town isTamworth.
In 1946 greyhound racing was held at theTamworth Greyhound Stadiumbuilt on the existing cricket ground. Also known as the Drayton Manor Deer Park Racing Track because it used to be the large deer park belonging to the manor. Speedway also took place from 1947 to 1950 and greyhound racing ceased in the early sixties after the site became housing in the area immediately above Bourne Brook (Dama Road today).[3][4][5]
References
[edit]- ^Drayton Bassett CP/APVision of Britain- theUniversity of Portsmouthand others.
- ^abcdefgA Survey of Staffordshire, containing the Antiquities of that County(1820)Sampson Erdeswickupdated byThomas Harwood.p. 308. Google Books.
- ^"OS Plan 1957-1958".old-maps.co.uk.
- ^"Greyhound Results, Monday 1 September".Birmingham Gazette.1947.
- ^"Tamworth Speedway".Defunct Speedway Tracks.