await the help she believed Elizabeth would provide. Two of Mary's letters are preserved in the Sheffield Archives. The Duke of Norfolk, not long released from the Tower of London, was caught in collusion with the papal agent Roberto di Ridolfi plotting to bring about a Catholic uprising in England. Parliament demanded the execution of both Mary Stuart and Norfolk. At this stage no action was taken against Mary, but the Duke of Norfolk was beheaded in 1572. Material culture of a queen and her household in captivity Mary sat for a portrait painter at Sheffield in August 1577. In 1582, while Mary was still being held at Sheffield, an inventory of all the household goods and furniture belonging to George, Earl of Shrewsbury was made. The inventory describes the castle and contents and gives an idea of the types of rooms in the castle at this date. These included a chapel, a porch going into the great hall from the great chamber (which was probably the large dining room), a wardrobe, the Lord's chamber and outer chamber, the Lady's chamber, a bakehouse, brewhouse, pantry, washhouse and low washhouse, a round tower, a square tower and a turret, round towers on either side of the gatehouse and walls running along the waterside, a porter's lodge, a dungeon, a square room, little kitchen, old kitchen, a kennel and a range of stables. Also included in the inventory is the "stuff" of the "Queen of Scots and her people". Mary had a large entourage, which varied over time, made up of Scots, French and English friends and servants. The list of rooms for "her people" includes those of the Master of the queen's "howsholde", Mr Burgoing as her doctor, and a Mr Jarvys as her "surgion". The 1582 survey also lists the furnishings "in the hawle at the Poandes", now known as the Old Queen's Head. Letters and the Throckmorton Plot Mary kept up a secret correspondence with her allies. The letters, some encoded in cipher, were carried by her supporters, including George More, a local man whose uncle had a house near Sheffield Manor. In 1583, Francis Walsingham investigated her letters and revealed the Throckmorton Plot. Mary leaves Sheffield In August 1584 Queen Elizabeth finally agreed to Earl George's petition releasing him from his duty of Mary's care. The task which had broken his marriage, his health and his chances of