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The ghost of Christmas past #73

...re in the 1930s.  She told them about the noises in the attic and how the servants complained about sleeping up there.  Then she told them about someone knocking on their bedroom doors in the middle of the night.  After that she told them about a little girl that used to run around the house, who could be heard giggling, of a room in the basement where the door always got stuck and the handle could be seen moving on it’s own.  So many stories!  Viv sat listening in amazement, enraptured. “Did you find out who the little girl was?” she eventually asked. “Oh yes,” answered Mrs Meynell.  “She lived here during the Victorian days and had been lef...

Anyone for tennis? #62

...ck in the 1930s the younger members of the Meynell family often played on them during their weekend house parties (see header picture).  One young man who became a close friend of the Meynell family made regular visits to Hoar Cross and recalled the happy times he spent there as “.....the last days of the traditional English country house with weekend parties full of gracious living and good company.”  The people who came to the parties were usually young aristocrats such as Lady Diana Legge and her sister Lady Elisabeth Bassett, who was lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother from 1959 – 1993, when she retired at the age of 85! (see below) Young ladies o...

Ghosts of Christmas Past #88

...re in the 1930s.  She told them about the noises in the attic and how the servants complained about sleeping up there.  Then she told them about someone knocking on their bedroom doors in the middle of the night.  After that she told them about a little girl that used to run around the house, who could be heard giggling, of a room in the basement where the door always got stuck and the handle could be seen moving on it’s own.  So many stories!  Viv sat listening in amazement, enraptured. “Did you find out who the little girl was?” she eventually asked. “Oh yes,” answered Mrs Meynell.  “She lived here during the Victorian days and had been lef...

Hoar Cross History #65

...me of the 1930s the telephone had arrived in the village and one was installed in the Meynell Ingram Arms.  Apparently a travelling reporter visited Hoar Cross in 1933 and likened the village to an ‘Ealing film set’ devoid of human activity!  He heard that the landlord of the Meynell pub had a car for hire and called in to enquire.  On being told that the vehicle was under repair, he noticed that a telephone was in the hallway and asked to use it.  The landlord replied that as it was after 8pm he couldn’t use the phone as this was in his agreement with the telephone company.  “Try the Post Office if you like,” he was told.  The reporter called at...

The Library #69

...ry in the 1930s   Architectural libraries made their appearance around 1720 when the finest Palladian houses also had libraries placed alongside private rooms.  Robert Adam designed elegant neo-classical libraries in the later part of the century, although some of these were later converted to dining rooms due to lack of books – no bibliomania there then!  It is said that libraries were a good place for courting couples to meet up under the guise of ‘looking for a book to read’ and even couples who were married to other people would use the library as a place of assignation! When our house was open to the public the shelves were filled with books a...

Lest we forget #86

...uring the 1930s.  He served in North Africa and Al Alamein as did Hugo Meynell.  Who knows - they could have crossed paths during the war, my dad never dreaming for a moment that he would one day own Hugo's house!  After North Africa he moved to Italy and spent a lot of time in Bari and Naples eventually moving up towards Belgium.  He kept diaries of his time during the war and the one I have is from 1944-45 when the war ended and he was finally demobbed in January 1946 and safely home.  It makes fascinating reading of another time when the future was so uncertain, not unlike today with  the war in Ukraine and other places around the world.  Most days my...