Story Search Results

The War Years and Beyond #39

During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically. It was no different at Hoar Cross Hall. The flower borders on the main lawns were turfed over to reduce maintenance and vegetables were grown in areas formerly restricted to flowers. Evacuees from Birmingham came to stay for the duration of the war and they lived in the basement, as it was considered to be the safest place. I imagine that they must have been in the care of the servants as they were living amongst them but it must also have been quite exciting for them to move from a bombed out city to the relative safety of the countryside, although they must have missed their parents of c...

Lest We Forget #28

During the two World Wars the Meynell family of Hoar Cross Hall served their country alongside many others from all walks of life.  After each war there was huge social upheaval, especially for women, who had been doing what was traditionally 'mens work' during the war and weren't prepared to go back to domesticity.  At the time of the First World War Frederick Meynell and Lady Mary Meynell were living at the Hall with their five children.  Their four sons all served in the war and their daughter Margaret served in the Red Cross as a volunteer. Their eldest son Francis was a Major but was wounded in action in 1917 with severe wounds to his back. He was moved...

Bacon's 'Essay on Gardens' # 56

Francis Bacon was born in 1561 and was 1st Viscount St Alban. He wrote his Essay on Gardens in 1625, a year before his death of pneumonia. He was also Lord Chancellor of England under King James I and led the advancement of both natural philosophy and scientific method and his works remained influential even in the late stages of the Scientific Revolution.  The essays he wrote between, mainly, 1612 and 1625 were about anything from love and marriage to superstitions to gardens and any subject in between! Bacon's genius as a phrase-maker appears to great advantage in the later essays and the 'Oxford Dictionary of Quotations' includes no fewer than 91 quotations...

Ghostbusters #8

...ut to see Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen who were playing locally.  I had been left in charge of my brothers and once they were in bed I went back down to the lounge to watch whatever I wanted on TV with a huge plate of snacks!  In those days the Hammer Dracula films were all the rage and were regularly shown on weekend TV – this particular weekend they were showing ‘The satanic rites of Dracula’, a real spine tingler.  Because of my love of horror stories I decided to watch it.  These films were always set in an old Gothic mansion on the moors or somewhere remote where you could hear eerie noises all night long – sound familiar?  Yes, it was a bit like...

What the Butler Saw! #38

...WHAT THE BUTLER SAW!      Anyone who’s seen Downton Abbey will remember Carter the butler. He is exactly how a butler would have been in the 19th century and, strangely enough, the butler at the Hall during the early part of the 20th century was also called Carter! Although most big houses had a house steward who was in charge of accounts and general running of the household, a butler was more commonly engaged by the wealthy. He was usually a grand, authoritarian figure, commanding respect and awe and most of the servants would have been scared to death of upsetting him! He was dressed like a gentleman of the period and generally ran the household with an...

Get me to the church on time! #30

...My dad was having to move out of Hoar Cross Hall and we had decided to bring our wedding forward so we that we could get married in the church in the grounds and then have the reception afterwards in the Hall, which was after all our family home. The wedding preparations were going quite well and as we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local band and a DJ to do the disco. A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering and the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent. I had two bridesmaids and we all went to Birmingham one day to choose our dresses and shoes – it was all kept very simple really as I had no...