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Edward Charles Novels in History |
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ISOLJ On Location |
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Shute House (now renamed Shute Barton) A National Trust Property
Shute House was built by the de Bonville family in about 1380 and remained with them (apart from a short period when it changed hands during the Wars of the Roses) until it passed in the marriage of Cicely de Bonville to Sir Thomas Grey, the first Marquess of Dorset. When Sir Thomas died in 1501, Shute House passed to the Grey family (right hand photograph).
The third Marquess, Sir Henry Grey, married Henry VII’s firebrand granddaughter, Frances Brandon. After losing a son at an early age, they had three daughters, Lady Jane Grey, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary. Tradition maintains that Lady Jane Grey stayed at Shute House some time before she was beheaded on 12th February 1554.
In the Shadow of Lady Jane starts with that supposition, and follows it to its logical conclusion.
Following her death, Lord Henry Grey (now Duke of Suffolk) was himself beheaded on 22nd February 1554 and his lands were forfeited to the Crown. Queen Mary Tudor gave Shute House to Sir William Petre, her Secretary of State, who later founded Wadham College Oxford and acquired vast estates, including Montacute House in Somerset.
In 1560, Sir William sold the house for £300 to Sir William Pole. The Pole family was descended from the de Bonville family and from the de Schetes, (from whom Shute gets its name) owning land in nearby Colyton since 1300. They developed the house, including the main gatehouse, (left hand photograph above) which they built in 1570, and benefited from the 1600 acre estate, which they took on a 1200 year lease from the Crown at an annual cost of £16.
The house was further modernised in 1660 but in 1787 the bulk of the house was pulled down and a new Shute house built further along the hillside; what remained of the old building became a farm house; Shute Barton (from the Saxon Baer Tun, meaning a barley farm). It was finally restored by Sir John Carew-Pole of Anthony in the 1950’s.
In 1959 the house was presented to the National Trust by Sir John. Under the terms of that agreement, surviving members of the family may continue to live here as tenants, providing regular access to the public is made available.
Shute Barton is open to the public by guided tours only, on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in the summer. I encourage you to visit it and decide for yourself whether the spirit of Lady Jane Grey lives on. |
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Shute House |
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Bradgate Park |
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Bradgate Park was the principal home of the Grey family during the years when Lady Jane and her sisters were growing up. The park is now managed by the Bradgate park trust for the City and County of Leicester. An excellent guidebook is published by Kairos Press, Newtown Linford, Leicestershire ISBN 1-871344-23-9
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Tower of London |
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The Tower of London where Lady Jane was imprisoned for seven months |
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Tower Green, where Lady Jane Grey was beheaded, and behind, the chapel of St Peter-ad-Vincula, to which her body was carried. |