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Tixall Gatehouse is a 16th-century gatehouse situated at Tixall, near Stafford, Staffordshire and is all that remains of Tixall Hall. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall was demolished in 1927. This home of the Aston family was used a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots. ==History== The manor of Tixall was held for many years by the Littleton family until 1507 when the Littleton heiress married Sir John Aston. The medieval manor house was replaced by Sir Edward Aston, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, in about 1555 and the Gatehouse was added in about 1580. The Gatehouse is a three-storey rectangular structure, the balustraded facade of which is decorated with three orders of twinned columns. There are four octagonal corner turrets topped with cupolas and weather vanes. The Astons were later raised to the baronetage and to the peerage, with the title Lord Aston of Forfar.〔(''The Scots Peerage'', Vol. I ), Sir Robert Douglas, ed. James Balfour Paul, David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1904.〕 Walter Aston, 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar became a recusant Catholic. After his death it was said that he received Jesuits at Tixall, and in August and September 1677 held meetings at Tixall attended by William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford and Aston's steward Stephen Dugdale where the assassination of Charles II was plotted.〔Dugdale, Stephen, ''Information of Stephen Dugdale delivered at the House of Commons, November, 1680'', London (1680): ''Tryal of William Viscount Stafford for high treason'', London (1681)〕 Amidst the Popish Plot allegations, one contemporary witness, William Skelton, described finding Dugdale and Stafford talking alone together in the Little Parlour and the Great Parlour (a dining-room next to Aston's chamber) at Tixall in September 1678. A letter from Stafford mentioning a plot was found in Aston's study.〔Smith, John, ''A discourse occasioned by the late conspirators dying in the denyal of their guilt: with particular reflections on the perjury of Will. Viscount Stafford'', London (1681)〕 On the death of the sixth Lord Aston the estate passed to his sister, who had married Thomas Clifford (see Clifford-Constable baronets). Clifford replaced the old house with a new mansion in about 1780 but retained the Tudor Gatehouse. Several local families were descended from the Astons, including the Levetts of Lichfield (and later of Wychnor Park).〔(A Genealogical Account of the Mayo and Elton Families of the Counties of Wilts and Hereford, Charles Herbert Mayo, privately printed by Charles Whittingham and Co., London, 1882 )〕 The Cliffords sold the Tixall estate to Earl Talbot of nearby Ingestre Hall in about 1835 and thereafter the property was let out to tenants. The Hall itself was demolished in 1927, leaving only the Gatehouse standing, and the estate was broken up when sold off piecemeal in 1960. In 1968 the Landmark Trust bought the Gatehouse which, following restoration, is now available for holiday lets.〔(Tixall Gatehouse (details, pictures, floorplans, etc) )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tixall Gatehouse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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