turret house
Information
Hidden in the midst of Sheffield’s suburban sprawl is Sheffield Manor, whose most ordinary surroundings hide a decidely interesting and distinguished past.
The manor was built by George Talbot, the fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, in the midst of what was then a great deer park. It was considerably enlarged in the late 16th century by the sixth Earl, also named George, into a manor fit for an earl, and a prison fit for a Queen. For it was in the manor’s turret house that Mary Queen of Scots was interred during 14 years she spent in Sheffield at the pleasure of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I.
Today the turret house is all that remains of the great manor, and houses a marvellous exhibition about Mary’s time in Sheffield. When you visit, perhaps you will imagine her surrounded not by fences, but by gardens: not by wardens, but by deer, and reflect that such a prison would not be such a ghastly place to serve one’s sentence.
Location
Turret House can be seen at 115 Manor Lane, Sheffield, S2 1UH. Use the Google map below.