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Frances Stackhouse Acton
Frances Stackhouse Acton was a botanist, gardener, archaeologist and also an accomplished artist. Her upbringing at Elton hall, near Ludlow, and her later life at Acton Scott brought an appreciation of the vernacular buildings of those areas, particularly the extravagant timber framed houses of yeomen farmers. Frances’ main interest appears to have been the buildings themselves as people were sometimes left unfinished on her sketches.
She had an excellent grasp of architecture and was influential in helping to save Stokesay castle from ruin in the 1850s. Castles, and abbeys, featured prominently in sketches produced during visits to Wales and the north of England. Her chief medium was pencil and wash in both monochrome and full colour.
This plan was drawn by Frances Stackhouse Acton as a result of excavations which took place in 1844. It shows part of the villa complex with its hypocaust heating system. (Image courtesy of Shropshire Archives)
Frances' drawings that accompanied the excavation report on a Roman villa on the estate, uncovered in 1844, put to shame the archaeological records of many of her contemporaries and are still useful to archaeologists today.