Wychnor Hall

Wychnor Hall (or Wychnor Park) is an early 18th century country house near Burton on Trent, Staffordshire. Formerly owned by the Levett family, descendants of Theophilus Levett, Steward of the city of Lichfield in the early eighteenth century, the hall has been converted to a Country Club. It is a Grade II listed building. Wychnor takes its name from the Old English meaning 'village on a bank.'

King James I reportedly stayed at the hall in 1621 and 1624.[1] The present hall dates from the time of Queen Anne but was much altered and extended in the mid 19th century.[2]

The house was for many years the home of the Levett family (relations of Levett of Milford Hall).[3][4] Theophilus Levett was Steward (Town Clerk) of the City of Lichfield 1721–46, and his grandson and namesake was Recorder of Lichfield and in 1809 High Sheriff of Staffordshire. Theophilus Levett, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, died in 1839. His friend General William Dyott, Aide-de-camp to King George III, attended Levett's simple funeral at Wychnor and noted that Levett "has left great riches to his younger children with the exception of his son Arthur, to whom he has bequeathed £4,000." The family's wealth largely derived from ownership of coal mines in Staffordshire and Derbyshire, as well as large landholdings and investments in the early Industrial Revolution enterprises associated with inventor Matthew Boulton.[5] The Levetts had homes in Lichfield as well,[6] and several streets in the city are named for them today. (Theophilus Levett was named for Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon, whose wife the Countess of Huntingdon was Levett's godmother.) The Levetts also held land at Edial and Curborough (inherited from their Babington ancestors) and elsewhere in Staffordshire.[7][8] Theophilus Levett's son John Levett, landowner, investor and sometime member of the Lunar Society, was Member of Parliament for Lichfield. John Levett was also a friend of long standing to Matthew Boulton, the early inventor, as well as an early investor in Boulton's Soho Manufactory.[9] Another John Levett was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1846.[10] Theophilus John Levett, grandson of the first Theophilus, was M.P. for Lichfield from 1880 to 1885. The family came from Sussex, arriving in Staffordshire from Cheshire in the early eighteenth century.[11]

The family had a long association with Samuel Johnson, whom the first Theophilus Levett counted among his friends, and to whom he loaned money, including assuming the mortgage on Johnson's mother's Lichfield home on 31 January 1739, for £80.[12] Johnson frequently wrote to Levett, and later to Levett's son John, pleading for extensions for his late payments.[13] Levett later carried the mortgage as well as other loans to Johnson, who eventually paid them off in 1757.[14]

Theophilus Levett had a long friendship with David Garrick, an English actor, playwright and friend of Samuel Johnson's, who was also raised in Lichfield.

Many members of the Levett family of Wychnor Hall and Packington Hall were Oxford graduates.[15] Members of the Levett family of Wychnor have intermarried into other county families over the centuries, carrying the name into other family lines.[16][17] The Levett-Prinseps, for instance, descendants of the Wychnor Levetts, formerly owned Croxall Hall in Derbyshire. The Latin motto on the coat of arms of the Levett-Prinsep family was Non Prodigus Neque Avarus: Neither prodigal nor mean.[18] They descend from the Prinsep family, of whom the first notable representative was M.P John Prinsep, who early made a fortune in India in indigo production and other businesses.

The Levetts of Wychnor and later Packington Hall were descendants of the Aston family, High Sheriffs of Staffordshire, who built Tixall Hall at Tixall, Staffordshire, near Stafford.[19] Theophilus Levett of Lichfield, whose descendants lived at Wychnor, had a portrait in his Lichfield home of his ancestor Sir Edward Aston, High Sheriff of Staffordshire.[20] The Wychnor Levetts are descended from the Tixall Astons through the Elton family of The Hazle, Ledbury, Herefordshire.[20][21] Tixall Hall ultimately passed to the Clifford family.

There are a number of curious customs associated with Wychnor, at least one of which was said to have begun with Sir Philip de Somerville, who owned the manor of Wychnor in 1338. A flitch of bacon was kept in the hall (later replaced by a wooden effigy of same).[22] That flitch of bacon could be claimed by anyone who had been married for one year and did not repent of their choice.[23]

References

  1. ^ A Topographical History of England (1848) Samuel Lewis p. 564 from British History Online
  2. ^ Mansions and Country Seats of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, Alfred Williams, Walter Henry Mallett, F. Brown, 1889
  3. ^ History of Wychnor, A Survey of Staffordshire: Containing the Antiquities of that County, Sampson Erdeswicke, 1820.
  4. ^ A survey of Staffordshire, Sampson Erdeswicke, 1820
  5. ^ Dyott, William. Dyott's diary, 1781-1845: a selection from the journal of William Dyott, sometime general in the British army and aide-de-camp to His Majesty King George III. http://books.google.com/books?id=SvFMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=levett+beaudesert&source=bl&ots=iwibN8DnkD&sig=9fZCBDBM85lOmsV9779Nzl2WI54&hl=en&ei=WmGQSrWYJoX0sgOr1qUM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=levett%20&f=false. Retrieved 7 December 2010. 
  6. ^ "St. John's House (later Yeomanry House) opposite St John's hospital was built before 1732 for Theophilus Levett, town clerk 1721–46," according to the Victoria County History of Staffordshire, "It replaced a house known in 1577 as Culstubbe Hall, the home of the physician Sir John Floyer in the late 17th century. It was demolished in 1925."
  7. ^ Sampson Erdeswicke, Thomas Harwood (1820). A Survey of Staffordshire: Containing the Antiquities of That County. Westminster: J. B. Nichols and Son. http://books.google.com/books?id=DEgJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=%22samuel+johnson%22+lichfield+levett&source=web&ots=cA46M2NyaP&sig=LIAL3-JDULU3WwYvmOPOdlsAemc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result. 
  8. ^ "Levett land at Edial, Manors and Other Estates". A History of the County of Stafford. M. W. Greenslade (ed.), Victoria County History, 1990, British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42357. 
  9. ^ Photo of letter from Erasmus Darwin to Matthew Boulton, 1766, concerning Boulton's plans to dine with John Levett, revolutionaryplayers.org
  10. ^ Annual Register, James Dodsley, London, 1846
  11. ^ Through intermarriage with the Floyer family of Hints, Staffordshire, the Levetts of Wychnor claim descent from King Edward III of England through his son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence."Thomas Levett Prinsey Esq.". maximiliangenealogy.co.uk. http://www.maximiliangenealogy.co.uk/burke2/Royal%20Descents/thomaslevettprinsey.html. Retrieved 7 December 2010. 
  12. ^ J. C. D. Clark (1994). Samuel Johnson. Cambridge University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=R8LFNVMFWH0C&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=%22samuel+johnson%22+%22theophilus+levett%22&source=web&ots=sdOV_CWuiF&sig=dwvy_dr9aiR-1j3uYsZz8BPEUpI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result. 
  13. ^ Rogers, Pat (1996). "The Samuel Johnson Encyclopedia". The Samuel Johnson Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Company. 
  14. ^ Attorney Theophilus Levett took a genial, accommodating tone with Johnson in their correspondence, while Levett's son John seemed a bit more businesslike and brusque, perhaps because he had not grown up with Johnson.
  15. ^ Alumni Oxonienses, The Members of the University of Oxford 1715–1886, Joseph Foster, James Parker & Co., Oxford, 1891. http://books.google.com/books?id=l-stAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA843&lpg=PA843&dq=john+levett+packington+hall&source=bl&ots=A4Bzk6V7EO&sig=wnZT5fKADgDNKrsI-xYQeb7r94U&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA843,M1. 
  16. ^ Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal. The Isabel of Essex Volume, Marquis de Ruvigny and Raineval Staff, reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994. http://books.google.com/books?id=ObnB2K0Pm-gC&pg=PA338&lpg=PA338&dq=john+levett+packington+hall&source=web&ots=UxFfWhch0s&sig=_z6MBnR6Y8-oYdNziWcV8XfWX0Q&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result. 
  17. ^ The William Salt Archaeological Society (1898). Collections for a history of Staffordshire. XIX. London: Harrison and Sons. http://books.google.com/books?id=iSfQAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA267&lpg=RA1-PA267&dq=levett+staffordshire+burke's&source=bl&ots=gHtKFIb_8P&sig=7DMbNENzAfCMIiMjN_H_eWJnWjU&hl=en&ei=eecxS6zbNImAswPf67XIBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CB0Q6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
  18. ^ Gilbert Pine, Leslie. A Dictionary of mottoes. http://books.google.com/books?id=dHE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=seaford+levett&source=web&ots=HJS4xYOF7L&sig=v1mXnoUMKMYkkNBlrP28sC0qtwk&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result. 
  19. ^ A Genealogical Account of the Mayo and Elton Families of the Counties of Wilts and Hereford, Theodore Mayo, Charles Whittingham & Co., London, 1882
  20. ^ a b A Topographical and Historical Description of the Parish of Tixall, p. 256. Sir Thomas Clifford, Bart., Arthur Clifford, Esq., M. Nouzou, Paris, 1817
  21. ^ Ambrose Elton of Herefordshire, born in 1578, entered Brasenose College, Oxford at age 12. Brasenose College received one of its founding grants from a member of the Elton family, and the Aston family helped administer the family foundation associated with the college. Ambrose Elton attended Brasenose on a grant from the family foundation, which set aside tuition funds for Elton kin. Charles Herbert Mayo (1882). A genealogical account of the Mayo and Elton families of the counties of Wilts and Hereford. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=rmEBAAAAQAAJ&dq=mayo+elton+herefordshire+wilts&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=s-usHw4rRO&sig=jNeRa7QV7GY2TW1x993vUSgxUyU&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA8,M1.  Thomas Hugh Constable (sir, 1st bart.), Arthur Clifford. A topographical and historical description of the parish of Tixall,. http://books.google.com/books?id=IAIIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=%22ambrose+elton%22+oxford&source=web&ots=-7SopU7bFz&sig=t9_FwqWJR3-CqH-kTLV7-fwLNJ0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result. 
  22. ^ Handbook for Travellers in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire, John Murray, London, 1874
  23. ^ History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Staffordshire and the City and County, William White, 1834

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Further reading