Tixall Gatehouse Staffordshire - Added to Historic Buildings in West Midlands

I have just added this to the map of places to fly your drone at Drone Scene:

Land owner permission not required.

TOAL was from the grass verge and there is a layby just behind for parking 1 car. There is a tarmac pull-in opposite the Gatehouse and a 5 bar gate, but it was a bit too close for my liking.

TIXALL GATEHOUSE, STAFFORDSHIRE
Tixall Gatehouse was built around 1580, and is one of the earliest examples of the of Greek revival architecture in England. Its builder, Sir Walter Aston, was so besotted with this fashionable structure, that he had it constructed in a position close to the house blocking the views across the picturesque valley beyond. The back of the Gatehouse mirrors the front, and was separated from the house by a wall, all of which formed a courtyard. There are three storeys, topped by an open balustrade and at each of the four corners there is an octagonal tower topped with a stylish cupola and gilded weather vane that takes the structure up to approximately sixty feet in height. At the centre of the building there is an open archway that allowed carriages entrance to the enclosed courtyard and on either side were porters’ rooms with the servants’ apartments above accessed by a spiral stone staircase in one of the towers. The large windows are flanked by coupled columns, Doric on the ground floor, Ionic on the second, and Corinthian on the third.
Tixall Estate
Tixall Estate was purchased in 1825 by Viscount Ingestre, heir to the Earl of Shrewsbury, whose seat was the nearby Ingestre Hall. Tixall Hall fell into disuse after the 1st World War and apart from its fine Georgian crescent stables and the gatehouse it was demolished by the estate in 1927.

Over time, Tixall Hall had been renovated, knocked-down, rebuilt and finally demolished, yet as all around it had changed and fell, the Gatehouse survived. However, it too had come dangerously close to dereliction at the point it was purchased by the Landmark Trust in 1968 as an Elizabethan ruin, without roof, floors or windows and was being used as a shelter for cattle. It took years for the Trust to raise funds to pay for the restoration, and to draw up plans and have them agreed by the relevant authorities; but the restoration work finally began in 1975 taking 2 yrs to complete.

The originator declared that this location was not inside a Flight Restriction Zone at the time of being flown on 20/08/2023. It remains the responsibility of any pilot to check for any changes before flying at the same location.

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Great bit of history, and a very well presented video. It’s a sad tale about Mary, I wasn’t aware of the details until now. It’s bonkers thinking about the gatehouse being used a cattle shed up until the 70’s. Great that the trust saved and brought it back to it’s former glory. Well done mate :clap::+1:

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@clinkadink Thanks Chris. One of my wifes work colleagues also works part-time for the Landmark Trust and she tells me that they are going to do some more renervations soon and she’ll take me round the place when it’s done. She said she wouldn’t stay there though as it’s supposed to be haunted! :ghost: At least it sounds like its safe from the cows going forward … that’ the cattle not the Mrs and her friend! :rofl::rofl:

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Great video and interesting commentary, i love anything to do with Mary, Queen of Scots so thanks for sharing!

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@DroneLeics thx Iain, I was quite surprised She’d been there when doing my research. Everytime I hike across the Chase in the future I’ll wonder if she’d been that way just over 400yrs ago!

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Love that Colin, I thought I recognised the soundtrack too :ok_hand:t2: herd quite a few versions of it in my time, cool :sunglasses:

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Excellent video Col, as usual :+1::+1::+1::+1:

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@JockyB Thx John. Lived close by all my life and still finding out fascinating facts about these places we fly at.

@Kirky Thx Rich. Yeh, I liked the score from the Gladiator and TBH all of Hans Zimmer’s comp’s are brilliant. :+1:

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