A champion of the arts who left her mark on a magnificent Norfolk landmark has died at the age of 89.
Shirley Cargill, wife of the late Radio Broadland founder David Cargill, brought a unique passion to the art scene which spread far and wide from her home.
She was born in Halesworth, Suffolk on May 16, 1936 to Beresford Leslie and Gwendolyn Williams.
She lived there with her sisters Pamela and Susan and brother Dick until the death of their father after the Second World War, when they moved to Norwich.
She excelled at school, where her drive, ambition and talent became apparent.
In 1961, she married David Cargill at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich, marking the beginning of a shared lifelong love of culture and the arts.
Together they championed existing and emerging creative talent, supporting a wide range of artists, musicians, fashion designers and entrepreneurs.
With style, flair and energy, they started an extensive and varied personal collection of paintings and sculpture.
Shirley’s own talent for design culminated in the restoration and reimagining of the beautiful Elsing Hall, based near Dereham, which was enjoyed by her family, friends and everyone when the gardens were opened to the public.
She was a passionate advocate for education in the arts and sat on the board of local schools. Her love for Norfolk churches began with fundraising for Alby Church and was extended in her support for the Norfolk Churches Trust, where she served as a director from 1991 to 2001.
She chaired the Norfolk Contemporary Arts Society between 1976 and 1989, bringing more contemporary art to Norfolk and to city gardens in Norwich with arts facilitator Isabel Vasseur. Together, they were an indomitable duo.
Shirley was very well placed to be its chair, not least in thanks to her role as partner in Angela Flowers' London gallery and as patron and collector of nationally noted contemporary artists such as David Hockney, Tom Phillips, Bridget Riley, John Loker, Colin Self, Boyd and Evans.
Her connections with the metropolitan arts scene help explain why the society was able to attract so many prestigious artists and critics as visiting lecturers.
The role and activities of the society made a qualitative and quantitative leap under her leadership and quite a few of its annual general meetings were regally hosted at Alby Hall and Elsing Hall.
She was also an enthusiastic committee member of the Norfolk Gardens Trust since the 1970s - again hosting many fundraising and meeting days at Alby and Elsing.
Shirley was a tour de force in support of her husband’s political career, his role on the Arts Council and as the founding director of Radio Broadland.
During the 1980s when development boomed, he set up the Last Wine Bar in Colegate, Norwich, and Shirley was instrumental in its layout, the design of the interior and – much to the surprise of the staff – what food to serve.
She developed a long and passionate love of gardens in all their forms, designing gardens in London, Suffolk, Norfolk and the United States, as well as for a whole host of friends and relatives she advised for more than 40 years.
She also pioneered gardening using the wild self-seeding style that has become a favourite of modern sustainable gardens today.
In 1982 the couple bought Elsing Hall, a medieval moated manor house, and transformed it from a dilapidated shell to a magnificent building. David died in January 2023.
Shirley filled the garden with old-fashioned English and French roses, created a dramatic formal yew topiary garden, planted avenues of gingko, groves of flaky-barked birch and left unmown lawns to conjure back their long-lost wildflowers.
Country Life described Elsing as Norfolk’s best kept secret, and the celebrated garden designer Isabel Bannerman declared the garden her favourite “ever”.
The gardens were opened to enthusiastic visitors from far and wide, also attracting a great many well-known design and horticultural experts. Magazines and newspapers captured the originality and idiosyncratic style of Shirley’s hand in photographs of the house and gardens.
Later, she moved to North Tuddenham where the gardening and entertaining continued for as long as she could muster the strength.
During her last summer, she sat in the bay of her drawing room with its doors open, from where she could view and contemplate the beauty of nature.
Her family said: “She was surrounded at the end by us and the comfort of a life well lived.
“She will be greatly missed.”
Shirley Cargill died on December 20, 2025 and leaves behind Natasha, Jonquil, Angus, Lucas, Milo and Finn.
Her funeral will be held at St Mary’s Church, Elsing on January 19 at 11 a.m.
- To read all obituaries and tributes join the Facebook group Norfolk's Loved & Lost.
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