Shelford

Shelford village

Shelford is situated quite close to a bend in the River Trent so the water slows down slightly causing silt deposits making the river shallower here ... and this probably accounts for the village name: Shelford or shallow ford.

Village sign

An Augustinian Monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary was founded here sometime around 1160.  The friars adopted a self sufficiant communal life, giving up ownership of all possessions. It sounds idyllic,  I can picture them now ... semi-bald black friars with their little rotund bellies, quaffing ale and singing three part harmonies as they hoed a field ... but these monks started to enjoy life at Shelford a little too much! Following a visitation in 1280 the Prior was ordered to abstain from drink; told to attend church services at the proper time and he had to retain no waster or quarrelsome person. His deputy was warned to take better care of the poor and abstain from all manner of business, plus the person in charge of the cellar was instructed to present accurate yearly accounts. It doesn't seem to have made much difference ... a new Prior was appointed a short time later.

St Peter & St Paul Church

Henry VIII put paid to the friar's debauchery by closing the monastery in 1536. The following relics were recorded as being venerated there: some of the oil of the Holy Cross, a girdle that had belonged to the Virgin Mary, some of her breast milk (!) and part of a candle used in her Purification service after the birth of Jesus!  Unbelievable! 

At the time of the closure three Cannons were found guilty of "unnatural sin" and three others wanted to be released from their vows.

 Archbishop Cranmer (see Aslockton) asked for the monastery farm to be given to his brother in law "or some other house in Notts now suppressed."  (This petition failed but he was allowed to purchase Kirkstall Abbey and Arthington Priory both near Leeds in West Yorkshire, for his own use.)  

Shelford was bestowed on Michael Stanhope (1508 - 1552).  Michael's half sister Anne was married to Sir Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (1500 - 1552), elder brother to Queen Jane Seymour.  Powerful relatives were obviously extremely useful. 

The Stanhopes prospered even further when Henry VIII died (1547) and Edward Seymour convinced other members of the Privy Council to appoint him as Lord Protector of England during King Edward VI minority.  For a time Edward and Anne Seymour were the most powerful couple in the country and Michael Stanhope continued to profit.  

However, all was not well in the Seymour household.  Edward's younger brother, Thomas Seymour, was an ambitious man looking to ingratiate himself with the boy-king at Edward's expense.  He supplied the king with sums of cash, while suggesting the Lord Protector was exceeding his authority and side-lining the young monarch.  

Thomas Seymour

Thomas began to make plans to marry 13 year old Princess Elizabeth … a step too far for Edward Seymour who vetoed the idea so Thomas married the widowed Queen Katherine Parr instead.  Anne Stanhope Seymour was far from impressed when it was suggested Katherine should claim possession of some of the Crown Jewels … as wife of the Lord Protector she felt she was the First Lady of England so they belonged to her.  On another occasion Anne refused to carry Katherine's train and almost barged the queen out of the way in order to gain access to a doorway ahead of her!  These quarrels between their wives added to the enmity between the brothers.

 Katherine Parr during her pregnancy

Katherine Parr died in September 1548, a week after giving birth to a daughter.  A few rumours suggested Thomas had helped her into the next world in order to rekindle his previous plan to marry Elizabeth Tudor.  Elizabeth had lived with the new-married Seymours for a time and her governess, Kat Ashley reported Thomas had behaved quite outrageously towards her mistress: coming into her chamber bare-legged while Elizabeth was still in bed, patting her behind and leaning in to kiss her.  Katherine decided matters had gone too far and in May 1548 Elizabeth went to Cheshunt to stay with Lord Anthony Denny in rural Hertfordshire. Denny was married to Joan Champernowne, sister to Catherine Raleigh who was the mother of Walter Raleigh.  Curiously Kat Ashley's maiden name was also Champernowne.

Queen Elizabeth I aged 13

Just four months after his wife's death Thomas was discovered with a pistol outside King Edward's bedchamber around midnight with no real excuse for being there.  He was arrested and sent to the Tower.  Edward Seymour failed to dash to his rescue and Thomas was executed for High Treason on 20th March 1549.  One of the Articles against him was the claim he intended to marry Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth was question over the matter she denied any involvement in such a scheme.  As a princess of the realm she could only marry with the approval of the Privy Council.  She faced being disinherited from the line of succession if she had failed to abide by this.


Thomas had been a charismatic character so his execution reflected badly on his brother.
Within a couple of years Edward Seymour had fallen from grace in the eyes of King Edward and members of the Privy Council.  John Dudley Earl of Warwick had made sure of that! Eventually Edward Seymour and Michael Stanhope were arrested on charges of treason.  Both men were executed in 1552. 

John Dudley would follow them to the scaffold soon after Queen Mary I took the crown from Queen Jane Grey! 

Tomb of Anne Stanhope ( d 1587) wife of Michael Stanhope

Michael Stanhope left behind a wife, Anne, and five children.  The couple had chosen some rather pertinent names for their off-spring in that there is a Thomas, an Edward, a John, a Jane and a second Edward (a third Edward having died in infancy).   A plaque inside the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul informs us that Anne lived a further 35 years after her husband's execution.  Her children all made good marriages and found favour in the Court of Queen Elizabeth I.  There are eight children depicted on the base of Anne's tomb: 3 sons and 5 daughters but Michael and Anne Stanhope had 5 sons and 3 daughters!  Now look very carefully at the second and fourth child from the left … surely they are men wearing dresses like actors of the time.  The third child appears to have rather an odd posture too.  

The beautiful East window was designed by Charles Kempe (1837 - 1907), whose studio produced over 4000 church and great cathedral windows - this one is considered to be one of his best.  It depicts the reading habits of St. Peter and St. Paul on either side of Christ on the cross.  

Four more windows show the writers of the four gospels ... all holding books:

Matthew: The Book of Generations        

Mark: The voice of one crying in the wilderness

Luke: The Angel Gabriel from God

John: In the beginning was the Word

All have Charles Kempe's trade-mark wheatsheaf designs.

You can find more information on Shelford Church here.

Shelford Manor House site of the demolished Shelford Priory

Slate gravestone

Michael Stanhope's son, Thomas, was only 12 years old when he inherited Shelford Priory. He was rather a forthright character and got involved in a number of quite violent disputes with his wealthy neighbours. He would die in 1596 heavily in debt ... mostly due to the cost of repairing and rebuilding his home! 

There were plans to build a beautiful mansion to rival Lord Willoughby's Wollaton Hall but it never materialised. 


There is a well researched, detailed biography of Thomas Stanhope (details here) by B Cobbing and P Priestland. 

Thomas's grandson,  Sir Philip Stanhope (1584 - 1656) ... the 1st Earl of Chesterfield married Catherine Hastings in 1604 and had eleven sons and two daughters with her.  The family fought for the King during the Civil War.  One of Sir Philip's sons, Colonel Philip Stanhope, was left  defending Shelford Manor and the village when, on 3rd November 1645, the place was attacked by the Parliamentarians, led by Colonel John Hutchinson (see Owthorpe).  Colonel Stanhope was offered the chance to surrender but he refused. About 140 men died that night. 

There is a dip in the ground near the church showing where Hutchinson positioned his gun battery (this is a listed monument).

Slate gravestone

The Southwell and Nottingham Church History Project records the following event at Shelford:
"During the fighting, some Shelford men took over the church tower, drawing up the ladder and bell ropes after them. From there they fired on Roundhead troops, refusing to come down despite warnings that no quarter would be given if they did not. Hutchinson then sent for straw, set light to it and smoked out the defenders. Smoke damage could still be seen in Victorian times, and today the wall at the base of the tower staircase is darker than higher up - possibly the legacy of this event. Within the body of the church there was damage to Lady Anne Stanhope's monument and the font, which had to be replaced in 1662 after the Restoration. Philip Stanhope died from wounds received in the seige and much of the Stanhopes’ manor house was destroyed in a fire."

St Peter & St Paul Church Tower

Yet another Philip Stanhope (4th Earl of Chesterfield) is also worth a mention here.He was a statesman and an acclaimed wit of his day (in his later years a friend asked after his health: he replied that he had been dead for two years but did not wish it to be known!)  He is remembered for a critical letter written to him by Samuel Johnson after the Dictionary of the English Language had been published.  The Earl had written in praise of Johnson's hard work and dedication in producing such a fine document.  Instead of showing his gratitude at this noble endorsement Johnson expressed his annoyance that more help had not been forthcoming while he had been struggling with debts during the time of writing it.  The Earl could have been highly offended by this: instead he praised the way Johnson had expressed his insults!



Johnson was not quite so forgiving ... over a number of years the Earl had written letters of advice to his son explaining how a gentleman was expected to behave.  When these letters were published Johnson said of them, "They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master."

Top of Stoke Ferry Lane

We can not leave the Stanhopes without mentioning George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon or Lord Porchester (1866 - 1923), famous for funding the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.  He was one of the first to enter the tomb to see the many "wonderful things" they had spied through a tiny hole before it was opened. 

Unfortunately he died after being bitten by a mosquito and the Pharoah's Curse was thought to have claimed a victim. It was this Stanhope who had the village school built in 1873.  The school closed in 1964 and the building is now the Village Hall. 

Read The Thoroton Society write up on the Stanhopes here.

Bingham market place holds a reminder of a most genial squire from Shelford.  His name was John Hassall.  He was so well liked and respected that when he died in 1859 local people collected the £700 to pay for the erection of the Bingham Buttercross.  The gilt lettering round the top reads: "To be Beloved is better that all Bargains" a motto he lived by.

 
A number of well-tended War Graves can be found in Shelford grave yard.  Four commemorate an Australian aircrew who died during the Second World war.

Arthur Mee tells a darkly amusing tale of a village tailor in Victorian times who started supplying beautiful velvet waistcoats at very competitive prices. He was also the church sexton so he had access to the Stanhope family vaults.  He was stripping the velvet from the coffins to make the garments. (Arthur Mee's 'Nottinghamshire')





The footpath fingerpost in this photograph leads to a field with one of the best views of ridge and furrow fields in Nottinghamshire.

  

Ridge and furrow fields

The village pub is the Earl of Chesterfield ("one of Nottinghamshire's finest ...") which obviously takes its name from the Stanhope family.  The pub was on the point of closing a few years ago but the locals organised a take over and saved it.  The business is now a thriving enterprise with good beer and excellent food.  We can highly recommend the lunchtime menu and the Christmas dinner.

Earl of Chesterfield

This has always been an agricultural community with farm building nestling amongst the cottages. At one time there were up to 30 acres of willows growing near the Manor House as the villagers harvested the stems to supply local basket weavers. Today we came across a field full of alpacas showing how the community is adapting to modern trends.

Stoke Ferry Lane

Stoke Ferry Lane leads down to the River Trent where a short ferry ride used to take passengers across to Stoke Bardolph.  It was once a busy form of transport.  Here is a description from 1908:  

"There is a very pretty view from hence down the Trent, Burton Joyce appearing just at the elbow, where the river turns.  Nor is this place altogether lonely, for there is a tolerably quick succession of passengers crossing the ferry to and fro, and boats sailing up against, or down with the stream.  A day or two in summer, might be passed very pleasantly in this neighbourhood ..."

Map of Shelford: click here.

Village website: click here. 

Millenium Stone