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Hoar Cross Hall - Life Below Stairs #35

This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at Hoar Cross Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light all the fires and dust and polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls...

THE RENOVATIONS BEGIN #4

THE RENOVATIONS BEGIN: 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, as he had done 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.  He made these into two, one-bedroom apartments and made small kitchens in the spaces which connected the lounge and bedroom, probably once used as cupboard space. Th...

VENTURES NEW #10

...gally for stately home owners!  In fact, he bought a suit of armour for my mum’s birthday present once, saying it was better to spend their money on an investment rather than flowers that would wither and die!  I don’t think my mum was very impressed!  Another time he bought an ancient Japanese funeral urn to put on display in the Chinese Room – to make it seem more authentic he filled it with ashes from the fireplace and placed a few animal bones in for good measure!  The display sign read that it was the remains of a Samurai Warrior from the Far East! One Easter we decided to hire a small steam train to give rides to the families that came.  It was...

Moving into the Manor #2

...ived in a stately home – if only they knew the reality!!  At least we got electric blankets for our beds – what a luxury  that was.  Fortunately this temporary way of living didn’t last forever! That first winter it snowed quite heavily and as the snow melted we discovered that the roof leaked – quite a lot actually and in quite a lot of places too!  All down the Long Gallery there were buckets placed under dripping water and my poor dad spent most of his time on the roof finding and mending the holes.  If anyone came round to see him it became a bit of a joke, when asked where he was, the answer was always ‘on the roof’!  One day the local ra...

Huntin', Shootin' and Fishin' #6

...HUNTIN’, SHOOTIN’ AND FISHIN’ :            Most stately homes have the obligatory hunting, shooting and fishing and ours was no exception during the Meynell family’s time there.   We participated in none of these but the Meynell and South Staffs Hunt used to meet locally to do a spot of fox hunting.  They would all gather at different venues around the area and enjoy a drink before setting off.  One of their usual places was the Meynell Ingram Arms Public House at the bottom of the village.   In February 1972 they had their ‘meet’ at the Hall.  We, as the host family, got all dressed up to meet and greet them and local helpers served dri...

The Graveyard Shift! #25

...THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT!       Life carried on at the Hall as best it could in difficult circumstances.  My dad continued to go to Arms and Armour Fairs to buy and sell antiques and we also went to a mediaeval banquet in Cheshire one night, although it wasn’t anywhere near as good as ours!  Once or twice we took my dad out with our friends to Derby, where he originated from, and that seemed to cheer him up.  But he really needed to get away from the house for longer periods of time and when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at the chance and bought it.  It was an ex lifeboat called The Bembo so quite sturdy, although in need of a li...