Story Search Results

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #13

...in those days. Hugo Charles went on to marry Georgiana Pigou of London in 1819 and their eldest son Hugo Francis was the last of the descendants of Sir Arthur Ingram to inherit Temple Newsam. He married the Hon. Emily Charlotte, daughter of the 1st Viscount Halifax, in 1863 and together they built the present Hoar Cross Hall to be their family home. Temple Newsam near Leeds   The Hall took nearly 10 years to build and was completed in 1871, although Hugo and Emily had already moved in before that. After their marriage they had lived at Old Hall while a temporary home was being built for them at Cross Hayes, between Yoxall and Hoar Cross and they lived t...

A New Year Calamity! #30

...A NEW YEAR CALAMITY!       The New Year’s Eve Balls at the Hall were usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk...

Moving On #35

...the next day at the Hall plus a tour of all the rooms new and old. It was quite fascinating to see the spa and treatment rooms which are now in the old basement. The pool is in the old Servants Hall which in turn became my dad’s workshop and the treatment rooms are in other parts of the old servants’ quarters – it was barely recognisable! In 2005 we went back again with my mum and two of our children, Lee and Hannah. Again, it was great fun to explore the house and grounds and show my children where I had lived as a child. I was particularly fascinated to see the attic rooms as these had always looked so spooky and were obviously haunted – how strange...

Hysterical Productions #16

...The next day, when cleaning up, we would find all sorts of things which people had left behind: scarves, perfume, money, cigarettes and even a set of false teeth left on the mantelpiece! I had found a little hidey hole in the wooden panelling in the Long Gallery; a small 6” square door which pushed open when pressed in the right place and I would keep things in there which I found – especially the cigarettes! In the middle of all this busyness my dad still found time to go to arms and armour exhibitions, one in particular in Birmingham around the time of the IRA bombings, which was quite scary to see and also the Racing Car Show at London’s Olympia. This...

A New Year Calamity #34

...The New Year’s Eve Balls at the Hall were usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballroom with his...

DIY Stately Home #4

...We moved into Hoar Cross Hall during the summer holidays and my parents quickly realised they had a lot of work on their hands to make the place habitable as well as to earn some money from it. As previously mentioned, there was an East Wing and a West Wing to the house. My dad decided to convert the first floor rooms of each wing into three separate apartments; he had done this at our previous house. This would generate income from rents until we got the main house open to the public. It wasn’t a big job to convert the rooms as the East Wing had four main rooms and two bathrooms already there, which would have been used as guest bedrooms in Victorian times. H...