Shugborough Hall Patrick Litchfield’s real name was Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield and it was he that arranged the allocation of Shugborough Hall to the National Trust in 1960 in lieu of death duties. The core of the Hall was a three story building constructed in 1693. Two pavilions flanking either side of the central block were added in the 1740’s. At the turn of the 19th century the house was further altered and extended by architect Samuel Wyatt when a new porticoed entrance front with ten Ionic pillars was created. Thus the hall as it is seen today is in a neo- classical style and encased in slate sanded to resemble stone. As I indicated in my blog post the real hero of the story of Shugborough is his Lordship the Admiral George Anson and the foundation of his wealth was his capture, in 1743, of the Spanish merchantman “Nuestra Señora de Covadonga” wherein he found 1,313,843 pieces of eight! Now, pieces of eight, also known as the Spanish Dollar, are silver coins approximately 38mm diameter and worth eight Spanish reales, hence the name. The modern day equivalent of a Spanish Dollar is approximately £50 thus the value of Anson’s treasure was roughly 66 million pounds, this in an age when the average wage was, perhaps, 40 old pence per day! It apparently took over 30 wagons to transport the loot from the London docks to a place of safety. Not content with that, in 1747 he captured an entire French squadron: four ships of the line, two frigates, and six merchantmen with a combined value of £300,000. One can only wonder. I cannot leave the Hall without mentioning the Shugborough Inscription. This is a mysterious sequence of letters carved on the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in the grounds. The letters are O U O S V A V V, above the letters D M. Of course this mystery, “an uncracked code”, has been linked to many things, the beginning of the world, the end of the world, the Holy Grail, the Knights Templar, I could go on. In fact I think the solution is clear and it is linked to our friend Admiral Anson and his devotion to his wife who predeceased him by 2 years. The letters are an initialization of the Latin phrase “Optimae Uxoris Optimae Sororis Viduus Amantissimus Vovit Virtutibus” ("Best of wives, Best of sisters, a most devoted Widower dedicates (this) to your virtues")**. On Roman tombs, the letters 'D M' commonly stood for “Dis Manibus”, meaning "dedicated to the shades”. ** Morchard Bishop-1951