Staunton Harold Hall

The Shirley family had lived in Staunton Harold for many generations. Sir Robert Shirley built the church in the hall grounds in 1653 in the Commonwealth era. The present hall was originally a Jacobean building built for Robert Shirley, 1st Earl Ferrers as a family seat for the newly ennobled Shirley family and remained so until the 20th century. The fourth earl, Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, was tried, condemned and hanged for killing his steward. The hall was rebuilt in its present form in 1763 for Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers. It is a Georgian two-storey brick house with stone dressings in the form of a square enclosing a quadrangle. Sewallis Shirley, 10th Earl Ferrers…