It is likely that the main source of income was sheep raising, an important part of the late medieval economy, in which the wool trade played a central role.

Unlike many of the Shropshire and Staffordshire gentry, the Wolryches accepted the Reformation and became stalwart Anglicans, but were royalists, as loyal to the House of Stuart as to their Tudor predecessors.

When Parliamentary forces arrived at Bridgnorth in 1646, Wolryche's garrison set fire to the town, which was largely destroyed,[3] before retreating into the castle, only to surrender shortly afterwards.

Modelled on Belton House in Lincolnshire, it has an H-plan lay-out, a large central entrance hall, backed by a saloon, and flanked by three-roomed wings.

In 1723, attempting to ford the Severn after attending races at Chelmarsh, directly opposite Dudmaston, he drowned, leaving no male heir.

She, her mother Elizabeth, and her uncle, Colonel Thomas Weld, resided at Dudmaston, and over the next half century, largely restored it to a sound financial footing by frugal management.

Wood had previously worked on a Picturesque-style garden for the poet William Shenstone at The Leasowes, near Halesowen, then also part of the county of Shropshire.

His small cliffs, waterfalls and rustic bridges created a framework for the winding paths and seating areas, laid out by Frances.

[8] It is unclear which Dingle came first, but it is likely there were cross-influences with that at Badger, Shropshire, where Emes certainly was involved in the design,[9] and where the squire, Isaac Hawkins Browne was an associate of Whitmore.

In the hall his improvements include a fine Regency staircase, new windows, and a large new dining room – now the modern art gallery.

[citation needed] While continuing his political campaigns, William remodelled the house and the estate on more modern lines, diversifying the economic activities and improving conditions for his workers and tenants.

[18] Their son Henry Prevost Babbage's 1910 Analytical Engine Mill was on display at Dudmaston Hall until the 1980s, after which it was moved to the Science Museum, London.

Rachel had trained as a botanical artist at the Flatford Field Studies Centre and established an important collection of paintings and drawings of plants at Dudmaston.

[citation needed] She met George Labouchère (1905–1999), a diplomat and scion of a Huguenot family, while working at the Admiralty during World War II in 1942 and was to marry him the following year.

George's next posting was to Stockholm, and Rachel had to fly over the North Sea to marry him there, forced to turn back once when the cloud cleared and left the aeroplane exposed to German attack.

It was there that the Lachouchères acquired an important group of artworks, produced by artists of the left-wing opposition to the regime – a significant component of the collection they would install at Dudmaston.

Following a strong interest in the economic and social history of the region, Rachel campaigned for the preservation and enhancement of the industrial heritage of the Severn Valley.

[citation needed] Rachel Labouchère left a memorandum of wishes with the National Trust stipulating that a tenancy would always be available to her relatives, to keep Dudmaston a family home, as it had been for over 850 years.