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Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Friday, February 24, 2012

"monumental" mystery cat?

Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, Britain, was until recently the estate of the Anson family, the Earls of Lichfield.  It's now held by the National Trust.  But back in the day around 1750, one of the Ansons had a cat he liked so much that he built a monument to it on the estate grounds.  Called, simply enough, "The Cat's Monument," it's a squared pile of masonry with a stone urn on top, and a stone cat on top of that.
I can't find any photos that are public domain.  But there's a terrific photo of The Cat's Monument here.
Now here's the mystery:  was the Monument built for
 - the cat that traveled round the world on the ship Centurion with Admiral Anson?
 - the Persian cat named Kouli-Khan belonging to the Admiral's brother, Member of Parliament Thomas Anson? (It may be this answer - Thomas also kept Corsican goats, which I believe are those curly-horned heads you see at the corners.)

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