Considering its territorial and social influence and the superlative
nature of its furnishings and collections, Weston Park is not as well
known as one might expect.
The house and contents, with its thousand acre landscape park, was
gifted to the nation in 1986 by Richard, 7th Earl of Bradford. Until
then, the house had always passed by descent, often through the female
line, and it had stood at the centre of an estate with a wide
geographical spread, linking it with neighbouring counties and with the
urban centres of Walsall, Bolton and Wigan.
Weston Park's owners and staff had a pivotal role in the development of
these places, whilst the family were involved in national affairs, in
politics, the legal profession, and the military. Their seat at Weston
Park provided not only a fitting home, visited by royalty and
politicians, but also became a repository of important patronage and of
collections. These included, in 1735, the highly significant late
seventeenth and early eighteenth century collection of paintings that
had been assembled by Francis Newport, 1st Earl of Bradford and his
younger son, Thomas.
Meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated, this book seeks to
tell the story of the house, its setting, extraordinary collections, and
the influence that it has had on wider communities through the history
of those who have owned and cared for it.
