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Mediaeval Weaponry #84

When we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in the 1970s, my father owned the largest private collection of arms <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> armour in the UK at that time!  He owned about 20 suits of armour <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> longbows to name but a few, these being the most common.  Knives were also used but mainly for eating <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> repairing, although I’m sure they got to be used as weapons too...

The History of Temple Newsam #37

In 1782, Hugo Meynell's gr<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>father, Hugo Meynell of Quorndon, the 'father of fox hunting', married the Hon. Elizabeth Ingram Shepheard.  She was the daughter of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount Irwin <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Lord Ingram.  The family seat was Temple Newsam in Yorkshire <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> this was how the Hoar Cross Meynell family became associated with this great house.  Through this marriage of Hugo <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Elizabeth, the Meynell family also inherited the Ingram estates in Lincolnshire, acquired by Sir Arthur Ingram in the first half of the 17th century.    In 1793 Hugo bought the Hoar Cross estate <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> built a hunting lodge which was known as Old Hall. Hugo <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Elizabeth had six ch...

Things that go bump in the night! #3

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!        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 the 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, the hairs prickling the back of my neck <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> quickly legging it back downstairs!  On other nights I would h...

Queen Alex<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>ra - my family #51

More photos from the album of Queen Alex<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>ra in the run up to the Coronation showing members of the royal family at leisure in the early part of the 20th century.  Alex<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>ra enjoyed photography as a hobby <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> in 1908 put together an album of her personal photos to be sold for charity. In it are photos of her husb<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> King Edward VII <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> other royals spending time at Balmoral <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> S<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>ringham during their holidays – a rare insight into how the royal family spent their leisure time, which in those days would never have been seen before.     The Emperor of Russia's family This picture was taken on board the Emperor of Russia's yacht, 'St<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>art' as they sail...

The Chapel #68

Continuing our series on the rooms that were open to the public during the 1970s at Hoar Cross Hall, we find the Garden Hall <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Chapel leading off the Long Gallery at the east end of the house.  This private chapel was a later addition to the Hall <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> was designed by G F Bodley, the gothic revival architect, <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> completed in 1897 at a cost of just under £1000.  The walls have a fine linenfold panelling <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the ceiling is richly decorated.  Many houses in days gone by had their own private chapel <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> it seems that before the chapel was built, services had been held in another room of the house.  I would imagine that Emily Meynell wanted a proper consecrated...

Alice - the ghost in the mirror #32

Here is another ghost story for the Christmas season associated with Hoar Cross Hall. By an amazing co-incidence Lewis Carroll <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Emily Meynell (who built the Hall) 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 Wonderl<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>’. It was called ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’. In this story Alice climbs onto the mantlepiece over the fireplace in her lounge <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> nursery rhyme c...