Drayton Manor, one of Britain's lost houses, was a British

stately home 300px, Oxfordshire.html" ;"title="Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire">Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a To ...

Drayton Bassett Drayton Bassett is a village and civil parish since 1974 in Lichfield (district), Lichfield District in Staffordshire, England. The village is on the Heart of England Way, a footpath. Much of the housing is nucleated village, clustered together ...

, since its formation in the District of Lichfield,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 Tamworth was a rural district in the English Midlands from 1894 until its abolition in 1965. The architect Alfred Edward Cheatle, Alfred Cheatle was for many years chairman. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from Tamworth, Sta ...

, and in the next forty years it lay in the Lichfield Rural District (which was abolished in 1974).

History

The manor was owned from the time of the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

by the Bassett family until in the 13th century.''A Survey of Staffordshire, containing the Antiquities of that County'' (1820) Sampson Erdeswick updated by Thomas Harwood. p. 308. Google Books. The male line failed and Margaret Bassett, heiress to the estate, married Edmund Lord Stafford. The estate remained in the ownership of the Earl of Stafford until the

attainder In English criminal law, attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles, but ...

and execution of the Duke of Buckingham (the 7th Earl) in 1483, when it passed to the Crown. Thereafter several owners included the

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. History Earl ...

and, from about 1600, the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

. The latter's descendants sold the estate in about 1790 to

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

(1750–1830) a Lancashire textile manufacturer, who was Member of Parliament for Tamworth 1790–1820. Following his death in 1830, his son

(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 the Elizabethan style by architect Robert Smirke. In 1843 Drayton Manor received a royal visit from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and Prince Albert. In farms of the estate the first Tamworth pigs were 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 the Drayton Manor Resort. The nearest large town is Tamworth. In 1946 greyhound racing was held at the Tamworth Greyhound Stadium built 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).

References

Engravings in the William Salt Library collection, Stafford, at Staffordshire Pasttrack
*'' Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII'', ed. James Gairdner, vol. X, no. 272. {{coord, 52.609, -1.713, type:landmark_region:GB-STS, display=title Country houses in Staffordshire British country houses destroyed in the 20th century