Manor Lodge

Sheffield Manor Lodge stands on the edge of Norfolk Park in South Yorkshire. Built in 1516 as a country retreat for George Talbot, the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, it once occupied a large deer park southeast of Sheffield. Today only fragments remain, including parts of the kitchens, a long gallery and the Grade II* listed Turret House, also called Queen Mary’s Tower. The Turret House has sixteenth-century ceilings and a three-storey plan with two rooms on each floor. A corner stair rises above the roof to form a viewing platform similar to the Hunting Tower at Chatsworth. The lodge is best known as the place where Mary, Queen of Scots, was held prisoner by the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. She arrived in 1569 after fleeing defeat at the Battle of Langside and remained under close guard for fourteen years. During her captivity she received a portrait of her son James VI in 1582 and kept tame doves as companions. Her household included French and Scottish attendants such as her secretary Claude Nau and embroiderer Pierre Oudry. In 1583 Francis Walsingham uncovered the Throckmorton Plot through her secret correspondence. Visitors walk among the surviving walls and enter the Turret House to see its fine ceilings and the stair that leads to the roof platform. Outside, the long gallery once displayed heraldic decoration with the arms of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon alongside those of the Talbot family. The site lies within Norfolk Park, where some removed windows and walls were later re-erected. The atmosphere recalls the lodge’s dual role as noble residence and place of confinement.