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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Question from Christine - Lettice Knollys

Where did Lettice Knollys die and is the housestill standing?

3 comments:

  1. She died in Drayton Bassett, Staffordshire, but I don't know if it's still around.

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  2. As liam pointed out, Lettice Knollys died at Drayton Bassett near Tamworth in what is now Staffordshire. The house, usually called Drayton Manor, passed to the Devereux family and then to the Thynnes, later Marquises of Bath. The Thynnes sold the property to Sir Robert Peel, father of the famous Prime Minister, in 1791. During the nineteenth century, successive generations of Peels tore down and rebuilt Drayton Manor (or Hall) in a more fashionable style. The house remained with the Peel family until after World War II, when the seventh baronet Peel (I believe it was the seventh...) was forced to sell the property to pay debts. In 1949 the property was purchased by George Bryan who tore down the house and built Drayton Manor Family Theme Park. Thus the house was replaced by roller coaster.

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  3. Sir Robert Peel (prime minister) did demolish the hall that his father had built, and built the last Drayton Manor in the grounds, prime minister Peel died in 1850 and from then on his decendants each continued to loose the vast fortune he left. The hall and contents and vast amounts of land and properties were sold to recoup debts and the hall was demolished. The government took over the grounds for a time during ww2 and afterwards it was bought by Mr George Bryan and his wife who worked hard to build a sucessful theme part there.

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