There was talk of a "Blue Plaque" to commemorate the band's efforts, sadly this never transpired. Local band "the Climax Blues Band" held an event at a local night club and raised a substantial amount towards the cause. At weekends people would have stalls selling souvenirs and encouraging people to donate. It was then that the townsfolk got together and a group was formed to raise funds to "save the Ancient High House". There were rumours that the High house was going to have to be demolished due to the amount of work that was needed.
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#HIGH TAIL HALL GALLERY PORTABLE#
A second chimney was demolished to create more space, this taking place following the advent of electricity when the rooms were presumably kept warm in winter by portable heaters. This work included the knocking-through of a stone fireplace to create a corridor and the removal of one of the corner posts, which lead to a splaying of the overhanging upper storeys. The structure was weakened by renovations to the ground floor in the 19th century. The King was accompanied by his nephew, Prince Rupert of the Rhine (and his Standard Poodle called 'Boy'), who was already an accomplished military commander. Today a tableau represents the scene during the visit of the King who stayed as a guest of Captain Richard Sneed. The main room of the house would have been the central room on the first floor, and it is here that guests, including King Charles I and Prince Rupert, would have been entertained. That the High House of Mr Dorringtons in tenure of Mr Lees shall be forthwith assigned to Mr Roberts the Provost Marshal to habite in for the securing of the better sort of prisoners. In May 1643, the King's enemies, the Parliamentarians, captured the town and in the following January, the newly established Committee of Stafford ordered: The weather vane was removed several centuries ago, and so the story cannot be verified, although the pistol Prince Rupert is said to have fired was far more accurate than most of the weapons then in use. There is a story that while walking in the garden of the High House with the King, Prince Rupert fired two shots through the tail of the weather vane of St Mary's in order to demonstrate the accuracy of a continental Horse Pistol. While in Stafford the King attended St Mary's Collegiate Church, an account being made by a local woman for the strewing of flowers along his route to the church. Having made the High House his temporary headquarters, the King talked to his advisers and dictating letters and military orders for the forthcoming campaign (some of these have been preserved in the nearby William Salt Library). It was not unheard of for a building to be dismantled and rebuilt at a different location - hence the expression to 'up-sticks', which means to move house.Īt the time of the outbreak of the English Civil War, a member of the Sneed family of Keele Hall, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, was renting the building.Ĭharles I visited Stafford and stayed at the Ancient High House on 17 and 18 September 1643, not long after raising the Royal Standard at Nottingham, the feudal signal to call his loyal subjects to arms - this act was seen as the start of the English Civil War.
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Some timbers have additional joint housings cut into them, which would suggest that they have been reused from an even earlier structure.
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Many of the original timbers bear carpenter's marks indicating that the frame was pre-assembled on the ground and the joints numbered to aid the on-site construction. The house was constructed in 1595 by the Dorrington family, from local oak, which anecdotally came from the nearby Doxey Wood, and is the largest timber framed town house in England. The Ancient High House is an Elizabethan town house located on the main street in Stafford. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. This article relies largely or entirely on a single source.