Description:The Aston family from Haywood acquired the Tixall estate through marriage; the hall was rebuilt in 1555. In 1580 Sir Walter Aston added the gate-house.
Six years later Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in the gate-house whilst her apartments at Chartley Castle were searched for evidence of treason.
In 1720 the estate passed to the Clifford family, who rebuilt the hall in 1785 using local stone. In about 1835 the Cliffords sold Tixall to the Earl Talbot of Ingestre.
Tixall Hall was demolished in 1926, the stone was reused in the building of St. John's Church, Stafford. The stables and gate-house remain; today the gate-house can be hired as a holiday home.
This photograph is from an album of local views taken by Edward King Tenison (1805-1878), a highly regarded photographer in the early decades of photography. His family seat was at Kilronen, Roscommon, Ireland and he married Louisa Mary Anne Anson, daughter of the 1st Earl of Lichfield, also an accomplished amateur photographer. These images were probably taken during Tenison's visits to his wife's family home, Shugborough.