WEDDINGTON CASTLE - An Online History

KEY PEOPLE: Henry Cunliffe Shawe (1833 - 1911)

Henry Cunliffe Shawe bought Weddington Castle from Henry Kay in 1874. He was active in the local community and in 1865, he inserted three windows in the nave of St. James' Church. He also paid for reconstruction work on the Church in 1881. A new organ was installed in 1882, and the following year a stained glass window was inserted as a memorial to two of Mr. Shawe’s children. During Mr. Shawe’s ownership the Castle and pleasure gardens were well known for local fetes and garden parties. A particular feature of Weddington at the time was the annual flower festival held in the Hall grounds. This was attended by thousands of Nuneaton townspeople and must have been a wonderful event with all the stalls of colourful flowers set out in the landscaped gardens of the Hall, with its specimen trees and extensive shrubberies.

Mr. Shawe had the distinction of holding the office of High Sheriff of Warwickshire* on two occasions: from 1892-1893 and from 1895-1896.

The influence of the Shawe family can still be seen today, and one of the principal roads of Weddington (ironically, built upon the site of Weddington Castle) is named ‘Shawe Avenue’. Indeed the first house in this avenue has the original stone crest from the Castle incorporated into its frontage to this day.

Shawe was married to Georgina Wilmot Shawe - second daughter of Sir William Nigel Gresley, of Netherseal Hall, Leicestershire - and had two sons (Henry Nigel Pole Shawe and Charles Shawe, an army captain) and two daughters - Edith Mary Shawe (who married Colonel Francis Capel Manley) and Eleanor Grace Shawe (who married Lt. Colonel Egerton Stanley Pipe Wolferston of the 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment).

Charles Shawe, who was born on 15th November 1878 at Weddington Castle, had a brief career in first class cricket playing for the 'HDG Leveson-Gower's XI'. His first class career it seems was limited to a single innings in 1919 with no runs, and two overs bowled at an average of 16 runs for no wicket. Charles was also a military man, associated with the Rifle Brigade (a precursor of the Royal Green Jackets).

Charles moved away from the area and died in 9 February 1951 at The Hermitage, Witham Friary, Frome, Somerset aged 72 years and 86 days. 

Also, the altar base of nearby Statfold Chapel**, 3 miles North-East of Tamworth, carries a memorial plaque to the memory of "Eleanor Grace wife of Egerton Stanley Pipe Wolferstan Lieut. Col. S. Staffs. Regt. daughter of Henry Cunliffe Shawe of Weddington Hall Nuneaton d. 1925. Lieut. Col. Egerton Stanley Pipe Wolferstan 1st Batt. The S. Staffs Regt. d. 1937". Lt. Col. Wolferstan's medals are implanted into the plaque.

In 1889 Henry C. Shawe added Lower Farm to the Estate, purchasing it from Ebenezer Brown for £3,900. In 1891 a census was carried out which showed the Weddington population as 100 (up from 81 the previous decade). Inhabitants detailed include Henry Cunliffe Shawe at the Castle, Alfred French at the Grove, Charles Pendry at Gardener's Cottage, Henry Badger at the Lodge and David Blythe at the Wardens.

On the 3rd of August 1911 Henry Cunliffe Shawe died, leaving the Estate to his son, Henry Nigel Pole Shawe, who went to live in the Grove in 1912. An abstract of his will can be found in the Appendices section of this website. In 1916 a stained glass window dedicated to Henry Cunliffe Shawe was placed in St. James' Church.

A more complete Family Tree of the Shawe family line can be accessed at this link (including details of the Royal ancestors of the Shawe family).

* The Office of High Sheriff is at least 1,000 years old, having its roots in Saxon times before the Norman Conquest. It is the oldest continuous secular Office under the Crown. Originally the Office held many of the powers now vested in Lord Lieutenants, High Court Judges, Magistrates, Local Authorities, Coroners and even the Inland Revenue.

The Office of High Sheriff remained first in precedence in the Counties until the reign of Edward VII, when an Order in Council in 1908 gave the Lord Lieutenant the prime Office under the Crown as the Sovereign's personal representative. Lord Lieutenants were created in 1547 for military duties in the Shires. The High Sheriff remains the Sovereign's representative in the County for all matters relating to the Judiciary and the maintenance of law and order. (source: High Sheriffs' Association of England & Wales (The Shrievalty Association)
 

** Statfold Chapel is in the grounds of Statfold Hall, which is still in the possession of the Wolferstan family, who succeeded to it through the marriage of Humphrey Wolferstan to Katherine, the Stanley heiress in 1565.