Story Search Results

Hickleton <span class='highlight'>hallspan> and the Meynells #43

This lovely Grade II listed Georgian house in South Yorkshire was once the childhood home of The Honourable Emily Charlotte Meynell who married Hugo Meynell of <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> and who, together with Hugo, built <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> to be their family home in 1873. The original house was called Hickleton Palace and had been built for Judge Francis Rodes in the 16th century but in 1745 Hickleton <span class='highlight'>hallspan> was built just to the south of this house after the estate was bought by Godfrey Wentworth in about 1730. Thirty years later he extended the house and added two low wings, one either side, and a servants wing. Emily's father, Charles Wood, 3rd Baronet, inherited the house in...

The War Years and Beyond #40

THE WAR YEARS AND BEYOND:     During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically. It was no different at <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan>. 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 ha...

The War years and beyond

THE WAR YEARS AND BEYOND:           During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically.  It was no different at <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan>.  The 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 th...

What the Butler Saw! #37

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 <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> 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 iron fist. As I said,...

An Edwardian Schoolroom Maid #40

For the first 75 years of <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan>’s history about 50 servants were employed by the Meynell family in the house and grounds. Among these was a young girl of fifteen who started work in 1920 as a Schoolroom Maid. Her name was Miss Inez Sophia Large and she had connections to <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> through her grand-parents, William and Mary Tooth, who lived in the village where William was the blacksmith; his smithy was just along from the Meynell public house. He had worked on the ironwork of the <span class='highlight'>hallspan> during its construction in the 1860s. Inez’s aunt, Constance Madeley, was the wife of the landlord at the Buffalo Inn, in nearby Newborough, and it was through her...

Alice - the ghost in the mirror #32

Here is another ghost story for the Christmas season associated with <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan>. By an amazing co-incidence Lewis Carroll and Emily Meynell (who built the <span class='highlight'>hallspan>) became acquainted when she was a child. This is their story - In 1865 Lewis Carroll wrote another story about Alice following on from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It was called ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’. In this story Alice climbs onto the mantlepiece over the fireplace in her lounge and finds that she can climb through the mirror into another world which is reversed, just like a reflection. Once again, she encounters strange figures in a world dominated by a chess set and nursery rhyme c...