Tower of the Winds and Shugborough Hall

Move your pointing device over the image to zoom to detail. If using a mouse click on the image to toggle zoom.
When in zoom mode use + or - keys to adjust level of image zoom.

Date:1784

Description:An engraving published as a plate in "Walpoole's New Complete British Traveller’’, published in 1784. The upper view shows the Tower of the Winds (here captioned as the Temple of the Winds) in Shugborough Park and the lower view is Shugborough Hall, the Essex Bridge and the Trent and Mersey Canal.

The original Tower of the Winds in Athens was an octagonal tower featuring carvings in relief, each depicting the nature of the wind. On the top of the tower was a bronze weathervane. Shugborough's version was completed in 1765 by James 'Athenian' Stuart. Eighteenth century paintings show this building could also boast copies of the carvings and weathervane, but today there is no trace of these features. The tower was originally surrounded by water, being situated at the end of an ornamental lake, and was linked to the land by two bridges. The ground floor windows were inserted in 1803 when Samuel Wyatt converted the building into an ornamental dairy for Lady Anson. It was rumoured that the 1st Earl of Lichfield used the tower as a gambling den.

The lower view shows Shugborough Hall from the south east with a central block and two wings. Just below the Hall are the arches of the Essex Bridge over the River Trent and a barge on the Trent and Mersey Canal in the foreground.

This print was engraved by Page after a drawing by Moses Griffith. It was published by Alexander Hogg at the Kings Arms, no.16 Paternoster Row, London.

Share:


Donor ref:BM-356 (192/38400)

Source: Mr Bob Metcalfe

Copyright information: Copyrights to all resources are retained by the individual rights holders. They have kindly made their collections available for non-commercial private study & educational use. Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted subject to strict adherence to the usage guidelines.