Story Search Results

The Ballroom #70

...r me as I got to dress up in a long ballgown and stay up late! Dancing at the New Year's Eve Ball   In time we also ran Mediaeval Banquets and this room was filled with over 200 people on a Friday and Saturday night enjoying broth, chicken and orange sorbet whilst being served ale and mead by comely wenches!  The entertainment, however, was not quite so refined as in the Meynell family’s day and I shudder to think what they might have made of it as they partook of their witty banter in the Drawing Room!   Don't miss the last in the series next week - "The Chinese Room"   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here...

Meet the Neighbours - Sudbury Hall #79

...; he also got married that year to a Northamptonshire heiress, Margaret Onley.  With the extra wealth that came with the marriage he built a grand new mansion on the same site which he designed himself – a Jacobean house but with the traditional Tudor structure.  He also moved the village closer to the Hall so that his servants and the tradesmen could live near at hand.  These buildings still survive today! It seems George Vernon was a very ambitious man who wanted to further his political career and having a large, impressive house helped him to move in higher social circles.  Together he and his wife had nine children so those extra rooms would have com...

Meet the Neighbours - Trentham Gardens #83

...ng when I got older, so we often went to watch the cars skid and screech around the muddy tracks in the grounds.  Unfortunately, my dream never came true – well, it took me six years just to pass my driving test for one thing! Currently the remains of the property are Grade II listed buildings and there are plans in place to rebuild and restore so hopefully it will return to its former grandeur.  The gardens are still open to the public and the Trentham Estate offers lots of things for families to do along with music events, cruises around the lake and a miniature train!  This site has certainly stood the test of time from being mentioned in the Doomsday...

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...

Victorian Courtship - gloves #92

...nd gloves got longer and longer up the arm until the longest ones were well past the elbow and had 16 buttons to fasten them up!  No wonder they needed the help of maids to get dressed – it must have taken an eternity to button up gloves, dresses and boots! A lady in her long white gloves   It was common not to wear gloves within the domestic sphere – for example, when having a meal at home.  However, it was considered inappropriate for a woman to go outside without her gloves on, as ungloved hands were sometimes associated with nudity.  Gloves, of course, were mainly for the wealthy and were made of kid leather.  Wealthy women also wore silk and...

Victorian Fashions #95

...Ballroom got plenty of use as people danced around the parquet floors. The Ballroom with dresses on display   As the Hall was open to the public during the summer months, my mum would display her collection of Victorian dresses around the house.  These were very popular and people would donate dresses to the collection or lend them to us for a season.  My friend and I dressed up in two of the dresses one day and walked around the house and grounds, bringing them to life, although I think some visitors thought they were seeing ghosts as we glided by! Another of my mum's Victorian dresses   Dresses showing long trains behind   As the end...