Wootton Lodge

Wootton Lodge was built about 1611 for Sir Richard Fleetwood Bt (High Sheriff in 1614), possibly by the architect Robert Smythson.

[1] Fleeing from Cromwell's army during the Civil War, one owner of Wootton Lodge took refuge in the coal cellar of Lower House at Prestwood.

This had just been built by William Orpe, a member of one of Ellastone's oldest families, who had a strong connection with the nearby Croxden Abbey.

In the 1930s it was for four years the home of the British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley and his wife Diana Mitford.

[5] Exterior shots of Wootton Lodge were used in the 1947 Technicolor film Blanche Fury, which starred Valerie Hobson and Stewart Granger.