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.
