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. 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 Weddinton 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). Little is known of these offspring although it seems 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 moved away from the area and died in 9 February 1951 at  The Hermitage, Witham Friary, Frome, Somerset.  

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.