Description:This postcard view of Chartley Hall was taken by Uttoxeter photographer Alfred McCann. Note the cannons in the arches just above the moat. The original moated timber mansion house at Chartley was home to the Devereux family, who had moved from Chartley Castle during the fifteenth century.
In 1575 Elizabeth I was entertained at Chartley Hall on her journey through Staffordshire. Elizabeth also had Mary Queen of Scots held prisoner at Chartley Hall between December 1585 and September 1586, before she was taken to Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire for trial and execution. It was at Chartley that Mary received information from Anthony Babington about a plot to free her and overthrow the Queen, hidden in the false bottoms of beer casks.
Chartley Hall was destroyed by fire in 1781; the present hall (pictured) was rebuilt in an Elizabethan style in 1847.