Keeping up appearances
In 1829 Mary Elizabeth's sister Margaret married the much older Lord Willoughby de Broke of nearby Compton Verney, the fifth richest man in England at the time.
Mary Elizabeth must have been aware of Charlecote’s shabbiness in stark contrast to the splendour of her sister’s new home, and work on Charlecote began in earnest while the Lucys were travelling abroad.
Recreating ‘Elizabethan’ splendour
Fashionable Victorians loved the Elizabethan age. The Lucys had a ready-made claim with the visit of Elizabeth I in1572 and aimed to recreate Charlecote in the Tudor times of the first Sir Thomas. George added a new service wing containing the present Victorian kitchen and scullery, as well as a servants’ hall and more bedrooms upstairs.
The house was extended towards the river with the new library and dining room. Thomas Willement, heraldic artist to George IV, was brought in to repair and re-lead the old Elizabethan stained glass and he probably also devised the great hall ceiling as well as Elizabethan-looking designs for other furniture and furnishings.