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Things that go bump in the night #3

Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!! That first winter at Hoar Cross Hall was like that. Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake. The next day I would go upstairs to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose. They were all tightly shut as they had been for 20 years. I remember st<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>ing there in the attic rooms feeling a tingling down my spine <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> goose bumps all over as I felt the atmosphere closing in on me - <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> I quickly legged it back downstairs! On other nights...

Meet the Neighbours - Trentham Gardens #83

This neighbour was a little further afield to Hoar Cross Hall than the other houses, as it was in Stoke-on-Trent.  However, we often visited the gardens <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> I went to a few concerts there which were held in the Ballroom of the house. It was very similar to Alton Towers in that it had formal gardens with a large house <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> in later years was made into pleasure grounds, although not as gr<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> as the rides at Alton towers! Originally the Trentham site was a priory but had been demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries in Henry XIII’s reign.  In 1599 the first hall on this estate was built on the priory ruins but later in 1633 a Richard Leveson replace...

Party On! #18

PARTY ON! One of the great things about living in a stately home is that you can have a wild party with the loudest of music – <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> no-one will hear it!  I was now going out with Kev, whom I had met at college.  Mum was a bit disappointed that my sensible boyfriend <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> I had parted company after 18 months of an on/off relationship but she begrudgingly accepted Kev into the fold <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> eventually met all the other members of the b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>.  I think she wanted to put her mind at rest that they were a bunch of nice lads <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> not a drug crazed rock b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> eating bats!  Which of course they were! No – I’m only kidding!  After the awful split up at Christmas my parents...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #36

GARDENERS’  WORLD AT  HOAR CROSS:       In it’s heyday Hoar Cross Hall had around 28 people employed to keep the 20 acres of grounds tidy <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> weed free.  In Victorian Engl<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the most common of all male servants was the gardener.   At Hoar Cross the head gardener had numerous under-gardeners known affectionately as ‘digging slaves’!  They were responsible for producing fruit, vegetables <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> growing luxury items in <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> out of season, much of it under glass.  Adjacent to the house was the carp pool <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> greenhouse area along with a palm house; next to these was a walled kitchen garden.  This supplied the house with all its fruit, vegetables <Span class='highlight'>andSpan>...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #39

GARDENERS’ WORLD AT HOAR CROSS:    In it’s heyday Hoar Cross Hall had around 28 people employed to keep the 20 acres of grounds tidy <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> weed free. In Victorian Engl<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the most common of all male servants was the gardener. At Hoar Cross the head gardener had numerous under-gardeners known affectionately as ‘digging slaves’! They were responsible for producing fruit, vegetables <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> growing luxury items in <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> out of season, much of it under glass. Adjacent to the house was the carp pool <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> greenhouse area along with a palm house; next to these was a walled kitchen garden. This supplied the house with all its fruit, vegetables <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> herbs. The palm house...

The Life <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Times of an Upper Class Family #41

THE LIFE <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> TIMES OF AN UPPER CLASS FAMILIY:         On 11th August 1863, Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram married the Hon. Emily Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Wood, Bart, afterwards 1st Viscount Halifax. The Woods were an old gentry family, for many centuries respectable York merchants. They were later to turn gr<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> upon the discovery of coal beneath their ancestral estates. This was the great Barnsley field, with several hundred acres of Britain's deepest <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> finest coal. Sir Charles Wood was created 1st Viscount Halifax in 1866 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> had a very distinguished political career. The family seats of Garrowby, Pocklington <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Hickleton (where Emily was born) h...