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A Christmas Celebration #89

The final Christmas blog this year is a story of how the servants celebrated Christmas at Hoar Cross Hall, based around true events.  The Meynells always gave a party for their servants and local tradesmen in the Long Gallery, and I imagine it went a bit like this!     “Come on, look sharp!” shouted Cook to her assistants in the kitchen.  “We’ve got a load of cooking to do for the Christmas party at the weekend and if you don’t get a move on there’ll be nothing to eat!” The kitchen maids looked at each other, stopped their gossiping and started to move a bit quicker.  Cook could be quite intimidating when she was in one of her moods.  The...

Temple Newsam and the Meynells #42

TEMPLE NEWSAM AND THE MEYNELLS:     Following on from last week's blog about Emily Meynell Ingram's family background, this week I am delving into the family background of Emily's husband Hugo which explains how Emily came to own the Temple Newsam estate after his death.   In 1782, Hugo's grandfather, Hugo Meynell of Quorndon, the 'father of fox hunting', married the Hon. Elizabeth Ingram Shepheard.  She was the daughter of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount Irwin and Lord Ingram.  The family seat was Temple Newsam in Yorkshire and this was how the Meynell family became associated with this great house.  Through this marriage of Hugo and Elizabeth, the Meynel...

Hallowe'en Hauntings #100

...t month's blog:  "Lest we Forget"   If you are interested in finding out about the origins of Hallowe'en, please click here To read my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends.Follow me on a personal tour of my childhood home on YouTube.  Click here to view and subscribe to my channel.View the Hoar Cross Hall website here OUT NOW!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion'  - my book available on Amazon.  Wouldn't you love to cosy up with this book on a chilly Autumn night in front of the fire?  ...

Our mansion gets a facelift #4

...my first blog that the basement rooms were the servants’ quarters with a Servants Hall where they all ate their meals. Originally there had been extra rooms on one end of the house which were the kitchens and sculleries downstairs (off the basement) and sewing/mending rooms upstairs. These rooms had been demolished by a group of monks who were hoping to buy the Hall back in the sixties. I’ll never understand why they were allowed to knock down part of a beautiful house before they even bought it and this end of the house was now a rough area used for parking   The old kitchens showing openings on right to Boot Room etc   You could still see the do...

Gardeners' World #38

...previous blog ‘Life below stairs’). By 1952, when the Meynell family left, the number of servants had reduced to three or four, and the outside staff comprised a head gardener (Mr Robert Madeley) and three under-gardeners – a sad end to the glory days of the Victorian age.   Don’t miss next weeks’ instalment: 'The Hall: World War II and beyond' If you would like to follow my story form the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.  Follow me around my childhood home in my 'Tour of the Hall' – click here to view and subscribe to my youtube channel. OUT NOW!!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' is out in book form on Amaz...

Home fit for a King #53

...With the Coronation of King Charles III almost upon us, this week's blog focuses on the Palace that he now calls home – or the 'Headquarters' of the Royal Family. This residence is Buckingham Palace which is the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom and where many state occasions take place, but Buckingham Palace was originally known as Buckingham House. The building at the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a private residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as Th...