Description:The small village of Weston under Lizard is situated on the western edge of the county on the boundary with Shropshire on Watling Street, the A5. In appearance it is very much an estate village as a result of Weston Park, the family seat of the Earls of Bradford. The name of the village derives from the proximity of Lizard Hill, a corruption of a personal name or of lazar, meaning leper. There is said to have been a leper colony on the hill. The element ‘Weston’ derives from the Old English, ‘west-tun’ meaning ‘west farmstead’.
In the Domesday Book of 1086, Weston under Lizard and Beighterton formed part of the lands of Rainald Bailgiole, who was sheriff of Shropshire and a Norman baron. The recorded population was 10 villeins (tenants who held land in return for labour services) and two serfs. There was enough land for six plough teams. The manor was worth 40 shillings annually.
In 1666 21 households were assessed in Weston for the payment of the hearth tax with four households considered too poor to pay. Weston Hall was the largest property with a total of 25 hearths. The manor was estimated to consist of 2,248 acres in 1666 and the land was mainly enclosed, with only 236 acres remaining in open fields. By 1782, all the land remaining in the village open fields had been enclosed.
Weston Hall, or Park as it is now better known, is the seat of the Bridgeman family, 2nd creation Earls of Bradford. The manor of Weston had a complicated descent of ownership during the Middle Ages. By the mid-17th century Weston was in the hands of the Mytton family and Elizabeth Mytton married Sir Thomas Wilbraham of Woodhey in Cheshire in 1651. They left the Weston estate to their daughter Mary, the wife of Richard Newport, who became 2nd Earl of Bradford. The last Newport Earl of Bradford died unmarried in 1762 and the estate passed into the Bridgeman family as a result of a marriage between Lady Anne Newport and Sir Orlando Bridgeman.
The earlier manor house at Weston was completely rebuilt in 1671 by Sir Thomas and Lady Wilbraham and it was Lady Wilbraham who was responsible for the design. She had considerable knowledge of building as is shown by her notes in a volume of Palladio’s First Book of Architecture (1663), now kept in the library at Weston. The stable block was built in 1688.
After the estate passed from the Newport Earls of Bradford to the Bridgeman family, Sir Henry Bridgeman carried out extensive improvements to the house and the grounds. He employed Lancelot (Capability) Brown to landscape the park and James Paine to design the Temple of Diana and the Roman Bridge. There were further alterations to the house in 1802 by William White and in 1865 when the 3rd Earl of Bradford succeeded to the title. The main entrance was moved to the east side and a new wing built on the east. An orangery was built on the west side.
The parish church is dedicated to St Andrew. It was also designed by Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham and was built in 1700-1701, leaving only the east wall of the former building in place. Her designs survive in the family papers at the Staffordshire Record Office. The church was restored in 1869-1870 by Street and enlarged in 1876 at a cost of £3,500 which was paid for by the 3rd Earl of Bradford. The pulpit, dating from 1701, has very fine carving. The church has many monuments to members of the Wilbraham, Mytton, Newport and Bridgeman families..
Education for poor children in the village was provided for initially by the Earl and Countess of Bradford. 40 children were in receipt of education by 1851. In 1873 a new school building was opened and was later improved in 1937. In 1950 the school became a controlled voluntary school for infants and juniors and older children attended Gnosall School. The school was closed in the late 1970s. Almshouses were built in 1874 to the west of the cemetery by Selina, 3rd Countess of Bradford.
Weston Park has been open to the public for many years. It has also recently become known for the V pop music festivals held in August. In 1998 it was the venue for the G8 summit.