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More tea Vicar? #11

...as the “Cathedral of the Midlands”. It was indeed a huge church (for a village) and always open to the public so we would sometimes go and have a look inside. On one occasion there was no-one around so Gavin and I lit all the candles in the church as we thought it looked really pretty and brightened the place up a bit. Oh dear – that was definitely not the right thing to do! A strongly worded letter was sent to my dad from the vicar telling him in no uncertain terms that he should be disciplining his children a lot better than he was. My dad hit the roof about this as he didn’t like people telling him what to do and he was by no means a religious man and...

More Tea Vicar? #12

...as the “Cathedral of the Midlands”. It was indeed a huge church (for a village) and always open to the public so we would sometimes go and have a look inside. On one occasion there was no-one around so Gavin and I lit all the candles in the church as we thought it looked really pretty and brightened the place up a bit. Oh dear – that was definitely not the right thing to do! A strongly worded letter was sent to my dad from the vicar telling him in no uncertain terms that he should be disciplining his children a lot better than he was. My dad hit the roof about this as he didn’t like people telling him what to do and he was by no means a religious man and...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #17

...If you love to read up on the history of old houses then you'll love to hear about all the generations of people that lived at Hoar Cross Hall.  Hoar Cross was part of Needwood Forest, the 11th century lands of Henry de Ferrers. the land was passed down to Henry’s son and subsequent various people over the course of 500 years ending with the Webb family, around the 1730s, who bought the land and house known as the Manor of the Cross. This was quite a large house built on a hill near Yoxall (which is the village next to Hoar Cross). In 1740 the manor house was demolished and later the Hon. Charles Talbot bought the estate for £17,000. Eventually it was sold t...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #20

...From earliest times the King's court has traveled around the kingdom so the King could see first hand what was happening in his realm. When the King showed up, the local subjects were expected to provide food, entertainment, and accommodations in the form of mediaeval banquets.  For the King or Queen's subjects this could be very expensive and not all royalty was welcome! However, this was the only way that people could see their King or Queen and know that they were real. Fast forward from the twelve century to the 21st century and royals are still touring the country so their subjects can 'see them and believe in them'. Although I published this blog in June...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #49

...With the King's Coronation looming on 6th May in the UK, I thought I'd do some royal family related articles this month starting with royal visitors at the Hall in the 1920s. I also have a book called Queen Alexandra's Christmas Gift Book which was left in the Library and shows personal photos from her own camera which she took of the royal family between 1900-1910 -  a rare insight indeed into what the royals did in their leisure time!  I will be sharing these photos over the next month leading up to the Coronation and hope you find them as fascinating as I do. Royal Visitors From earliest times the king's court has travelled around the kingdom so the king...

Hoar Cross Hall - A bit of History #54

...Hoar Cross was part of Needwood Forest, the 11th century lands of Henry de Ferrers. the land was passed down to Henry’s son and subsequent various people over the course of 500 years ending with the Webb family, around the 1730s, who bought the land and house known as the Manor of the Cross. This was quite a large house built on a hill near Yoxall (which is the village next to Hoar Cross). In 1740 the manor house was demolished and later the Hon. Charles Talbot bought the estate for £17,000. Eventually it was sold to Hugo Meynell, who already owned huge amounts of property all over the county and was now about to add another one to his portfolio. This branch...