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The Chapel #68

Continuing our series on the rooms that were open to the public during the 1970s at Hoar Cross Hall, we find the Garden Hall and Chapel leading off the Long Gallery at the east end of the house.  This private chapel was a later addition to the Hall and was designed by G F Bodley, the gothic revival architect, and completed in 1897 at a cost of just under £1000.  The walls have a fine linenfold panelling and the ceiling is richly decorated.  Many houses in days gone by had their own private chapel and it seems that before the chapel was built, services had been held in another room of the house.  I would imagine that Emily Meynell wanted a proper consecrated...

The Library #69

The Library at Hoar Cross Hall is a delightful room, not huge like the other rooms, but not too small either – a room fitted with mahogany bookshelves on three sides and a bay window overlooking the terrace and the gardens.  From this window, on a clear day, it is possible to see the “Three ladies of the vale” – the spires of Lichfield Cathedral.  Libraries have been around for centuries with evidence pointing to the Romano-British world when documents and manuscripts were stored in chests in special rooms where people could study them sitting at a table, not unlike today's libraries.   In the 15th century classical works were collected by men such...

The Chinese Room #71

The Chinese Room is the last in the series of the rooms that were open to the public at Hoar Cross Hall during the 1970s.  It had three doorways and was entered from the Ballroom, the Long Gallery and the Entrance Hall and was originally the Dining Room of the house when the Meynell family lived there.  The centrepiece of the room is the 18th century carved wood mantelpiece, incorporating classical figures and floral decorations, with a carved and painted armorial overmantel.     As you can probably guess from the name of the room, the main theme was oriental  armour, tapestries and furniture, including a Burmese Palace Chair.  The oriental armour was a...

Meet the Neighbours - Blithfield Hall #78

This month I start a brand new series on stately homes local to Hoar Cross Hall and the first one is Blithfield Hall, which was probably the nearest stately home neighbour to Hoar Cross Hall and had been privately owned by the Bagot family since the 14th century.  The house, which is Grade I listed, is situated between Rugeley and Abbots Bromley and is about 6 miles from the Hall.  I remember calling round with my parents once to see Nancy, Lady Bagot, and admiring the goats they had roaming around the nearby fields.  Blithfield Hall is known as the home of a breed of goat, the Bagot goat, which for several hundred years have lived semi-wild on the estate....

Meet the Neighbours - Sudbury Hall #79

Continuing the series on neighbouring houses to Hoar Cross Hall, let me introduce you to Sudbury Hall, which is about 7 miles away and on the border of Staffordshire and Derbyshire.  The manor of Sudbury was listed in the Doomsday Book following the Norman Conquest in 1086, so a lot older than the Hall, and is a Grade I listed building.  The Vernon family came to Sudbury after a 16th century marriage between Sir John Vernon, from Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, and the Sudbury heiress, Ellen Montgomery.  It seems the Vernon family have stayed in the Hall for generations right up until the 20th century when the 10th Baron Vernon transferred the Hall and its princip...

Mediaeval Weaponry #84

When we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in the 1970s, my father owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the UK at that time!  He owned about 20 suits of armour and numerous items of ‘arms’, which is another word for weapons.  The word ‘arms’ comes from the Latin ‘arma’ which means ‘tools of war’; this word passed into the English language from the French in 1200.  Mediaeval weapons consisted of halberds, double-edged swords, daggers, battle axes, crossbows and longbows to name but a few, these being the most common.  Knives were also used but mainly for eating and repairing, although I’m sure they got to be used as weapons too...