2-982-177 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Queen's Visit to Birmingham - Arrival of Her Majesty at Stoneleigh Abbey, 1858. 'There are few who require to be told what a fine baronial residence is this old abbey, once the well-chosen retreat of a community of Cistercian monks, and now the family seat of Lord Leigh, one of the most amiable and popular noblemen in the midland counties... Passing under a triumphal arch...the Royal cortege passed on to the Abbey, which was reached punctually at half-past six. The Royal visitors were received at the entrance to the Abbey by Lord and Lady Leigh, the Dowager Lady Leigh, &c...Immediately on her Majesty's arrival a Royal salute was fired by sixty members of the Artillery...a fine Royal standard of England (in every respect similar to that at Buckingham Palace) was hoisted over the Abbey in the place of a Union Jack...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.