Shelton Hall is a large estate in the village of Shelton and Hardwick, Norfolk, England. The estate has around 72 acres (290,000 m2) of surrounding fields, the names of the fields include "Magic field" and "Echo field" and has a moat around the house and another smaller one in one of the fields. There are also lots of trees, shrubs and a bridge.[1]
The house belonged to the Shelton family, who reached their zenith during the reign of Henry VIII. John De Shelton, the first Lord of the Manor, was born c.1140. It is said that Nicholas De Shelton was among those barons presenting the Magna Carta to King John, while Sir Ralph Shelton was knighted for his services to Edward III at the Battle of Crecy (1346).[2] In the Tudor period Sir John Shelton, the twenty-first Lord of the Manor, and his wife Anne Boleyn were entrusted with the custody of Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth as children, partly because Anne was the aunt of Queen Anne Boleyn and the mother of Mary Shelton, the mistress of Henry VIII during his marriage to Anne.[3][4] A portrait of Mary Shelton by Hans Holbein remains in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.
Elizabeth visited her relatives at Shelton and had her own pew in the church of St Mary.[5] After her coronation she summoned her great aunt's family to London, and their descendants would live at court during her reign.
There is a glazed effigy of Sir John Shelton and his wife in the church. A descendant, Sir Ralph Shelton the twenty-sixth Lord of the Manor, is believed to have sailed to America with Lord De La Warr in 1610, establishing the Sheltons in Jamestown, Virginia.
The current house, dating from the 17th century, with 18th and 19th century additions, stands within the original moat on the site of the Tudor mansion of the Sheltons, which was destroyed by fire. Evidence of the moat of a former settlement remains in the "Dark Park" to the south-east of the current hall.