Description: Annesley Hall is an ancient manor house set in a seventeenth century landscape park of around 250ha. The hall is grade II listed, as are other parts of the park, such as the terrace to the south-west of the hall, and the gate-house. Nearby are the ruins of the grade I listed old Annesley church. The hall has associations with the poet Lord Byron through being the home of the sweet-heart of his youth, Mary Annn Chaworth. There used to be, preserved under glass, a signed transcription of the poem 'Hills of Annesley' written by Byron after the marriage of Mary Chaworth in 1805. Mary Chaworth was the heiress of the Annesley estate, and with her marriage to John Musters it passed down their joined line, the Chaworth-Musters, until 1974 when Major Robert Patricius Chaworth-Musters purchased and moved to Felley Priory. Since that time though, the hall has stood empty, its future not yet decided. The Chaworth family had owned the estate since the reign of Henry VI when George Chaworth, third son of Sir Thomas Chaworth, Knight of Wiverton, married Alice de Annesley in circa 1442. The first lord of the Annesley manor to take their name from the estate was Ralph Britto de Annesley, who died sometime between 1156 and 1161. (Note that the hall and grounds are not open to the public, but you can view them from the A611 and by foot from Dog and Bear lane.) This picture is a portrait of Mary Chaworth, 'from an original at the age of 17'.