In 1624, London lawyer William Anson bought a moated medieval manor at Shugborough in Staffordshire from Thomas Whitby for around £1,000, beginning a family connection with the estate that would last for roughly three centuries. The property had previously belonged to the Bishops of Lichfield before passing through several owners following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, while the surrounding landscape formed part of Cannock Chase, a former royal hunting forest governed by centuries of forest laws. Anson's descendants would eventually transform the modest manor into the grand Shugborough estate visitors know today, but some of the landscape's most remarkable survivors are considerably older than the family itself. Veteran oak trees across Cannock Chase have been recorded at more than 400 years old, meaning some were already growing when Anson purchased Shugborough in 1624. More than four centuries later, these ancient trees remain living reminders of a landscape that has outlasted generations of owners and changing ideas of land use. These remarkable oaks stand as living witnesses to centuries of English history, connecting the medieval past with present conservation efforts to preserve them.
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