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Sir Thomas Stanhope of Shelford
Location: Nottinghamshire
AIMS
Radcliffe-on-Trent Local History Society project has been to write a book on the life of Sir Thomas Stanhope of Shelford - a controversial Tudor landowner in both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
It is not easy to recreate the life of a sixteenth century individual, but we have managed to find plenty of evidence about his quarrels with members of his own family and with other landowners in the East Midlands.
By rediscovering events which took place some 400 years ago, we hope that awareness of our local heritage has been increased.
SIR THOMAS'S STORY
Thomas was the eldest of eight surviving children. He was only twelve years old when his father, Sir Michael Stanhope, was executed in 1552. (It was Sir Michael who had acquired Shelford in Henry VIII's time.) For the rest of his life he was determined that his family would regain and then maintain their status. Nevertheless, he was often at odds with his wife (the heiress Margaret Port of Etwall in Derbyshire) and two of his sons (John and Edward).
To enforce his authority as a landowner, Sir Thomas frequently turned to courts such as Star Chamber and Chancery. Over a period of thirty years he quarrelled with the Fletchers of Stoke Bardolph, the Willoughbys of Wollaton, the Zouches of Codnor (resulting in a riot in Derby in 1577), and the Molyneux, Sacheverell, Kniveton and Markham families.
His most bitter foe was Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. (The earl's wife claimed that Sir Thomas's wickedness had caused him to become ' more ugly in shape than the ugliest toad in the world'. She hoped that all 'plagues and miseries' would befall him and that he would 'be damned perpetually in hell fire'.) The climax of this quarrel came at Easter 1593 when the earl's tenants and servants attacked Sir Thomas's weir on the River Trent.
In the difficult religious and political world of Queen Elizabeth's reign, it is hardly surprising that the government became alarmed at the frequent disputes in the provinces which could undermine the nation's stability.
In 1596 Sir Thomas died in debt, partly caused by the cost of rebuilding his house at Shelford. Whether he was a victim or villain we shall leave the reader to decide. In the long run, however, his family's status rose. His grandson became the 1st Earl of Chesterfield - a title found on local public house signs to this day.
OUR PROGRESS
It has been a busy summer. We completed documentary research in London and Nottingham, and then spent a lot of time photographing sites and monuments connected with Sir Thomas's story. In July our stalls at Shelford Feast and Radcliffe Carnival attracted considerable interest. A Stanhope day at Shelford in early October was followed by a guided walk on the most brilliant Sunday morning imaginable. This was to view the site of the attack on Sir Thomas's weir in 1593.
As for the book, it was published on 13th December 2003 - just in time for Christmas! It is on sale locally in Bingham and Radcliffe on Trent libraries at £5 a copy. It can also be ordered from Ashbracken, 14 Cropwell Road, Radcliffe on Trent, Nottinghamshire NG12 2FS (postage and packing £2.50p in UK. Postage and packing Airmail to Europe £3.80p, North America £7.00p, Australia and New Zealand £7.50p. Postage and packing surface mail: £3.50p outside UK. Cheques payable to Radcliffe on Trent Local History Society).
FUTURE PLANS
6 January 2004 - A talk on Sir Thomas and life at Shelford Manor for East Bridgford Local History Society.
13 January 2004 - Start of a ten week WEA course on Local Life in Elizabethan Times, drawing heavily on material from the Stanhope project. To be held in Radcliffe on Trent library on Tuesday evenings.
Autumn 2004 - A further talk to East Bridgford Local History Society, a Saturday morning session in Bromley House library, Nottingham, and liaison with a local school.
| Grants: |
Heritage Lottery Fund: £14,808
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