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The Haunting of Hoar Cross HAll #27

THE HAUNTING OF HOAR CROSS HAll:    (Based on true Events)             The typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story. It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself. The attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from Everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot. Suddenly she looked up and realized how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulling in and it was already quite dusky by 3.30pm. Quickly she packed her books and folders away and prepared to go downstairs. How she hated being up in the a...

Hoar Cross HAll - Life below stairs #19

This week I’ve done a historical blog about the servants who lived at the HAll from the 1870s to the 1950s when the HAll became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light All the fires and dust and polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls went...

Things that go bump in the night! #3

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!        Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is Even more scary!!  That first winter at the HAll was like that.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – All night long it kept me awake.  The next day I would go upstairs to close it but there would be no windows open or Even loose.   They were All tightly shut as they had been for 20 years.  I remember standing there in the attic rooms, the hairs prickling the back of my neck and quickly legging it back downstairs!  On other nights I would h...

Suits you Sir! #22

When we moved to Hoar Cross HAll in 1970 the organ in the private chapel wasn’t working as the house had been empty for 20 years. It was such a shame as it had been designed by Bodley, the famous organ maker of the 19th century. The chapel itself had been added about 25 years after the house was built at the staggering cost of just under £1000! When one of the visitors to the house said he could fix the organ, my dad readily agreed. This chap reAlly loved organs and volunteered his services free of charge just for the love of mending this musical work of art; my dad was over the moon! Alas, after removing All the pipes and laying them out in the basement, he...

The Graveyard Shift #23

Life carried on at Hoar Cross HAll as best it could in difficult circumstances. My dad continued to go to Arms and Armour Fairs to buy and sell antiques and we also went to a mediaeval banquet in Cheshire one night, although it wasn’t anywhere near as good as ours! Once or twice we took my dad out with our friends to Derby, where he originated from, and that seemed to cheer him up. But he reAlly needed to get away from the house for longer periods of time and when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at the chance and bought it. It was an ex lifeboat cAlled The Bembo so quite sturdy, although in need of a lick of paint and a bit of TLC. Th...

Motor Racing Days #9

Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross HAll, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the HAll as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actuAlly started off racing motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 500cc (which is the...