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Temple Newsam and the Meynells #40

...fortunate Earl of Darnley was born.  Married to Mary, Queen of Scots, he was murdered two years later, supposedly by Mary's next husband, the Earl of Bothwell.  The house was rebuilt between 1622 and 1637 in Jacobean style by Sir Arthur Ingram and later the grounds were landscaped by 'Capability' Brown, the famous landscape gardener.  The Ingrams and their descendants were to own the estate for nEarly 300 years before it passed to the Halifax family.  The house was sold by Lord Halifax to the City of Leeds for £30,000 in 1922 and has been a decorative arts museum since 1938.  And so, these two families seem to have been intertwined for many generations. ...

Hickleton Hall and the Meynells #43

...d created Earl of Halifax in 1944. So quite a lineage that she came from! During the Second World War the house was actually the headquarters of I Corps after the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940. Emily was one of eight children, having five brothers and two sisters, although one brother, John, died in infancy as was common in those days. It must have been a bustling household with so many little ones running around keeping the nursemaids on their toes! Hickleton was not as huge as Hoar Cross Hall, probably half the size, but it did still have servants quarters, stables and even a brewhouse. One of the last brewhouses to operate within a country house was at...

The origins of the stately home #43

...rd, Lady, Earl, Duke or Baron. Often they were Members of Parliament and Justices of the Peace due to their high education and would act as the local 'law' in their community. Most of these houses were built in the 17th and 18th century as manor houses in the heart of an agricultural estate, so effectively they were like farms with a farmhouse albeit a bit grander! The Lords that owned the manor houses would then provide employment for large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff in the rural community. It also provided the owner with income from rents and produce. When the Industrial Revolution came along it meant more houses were being built for the newly rich i...

The Library #69

...ch as the Earl of Worcester who is said to have “despoiled the libraries of Italy so that he may adorn England with monuments of books”. It seems that people started to collect large amounts of books, known as bibliomania, just to fill up their library shelves, often duplicating books to fill the space! The Library 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 bibliom...

Royal visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #10

...guests of Earl Fitzwilliam and their stay was to include a visit to Cadeby Colliery, the scene of a recent mining disaster, which made many a headline at the time. Wentworth Woodhouse Apparently Hoar Cross Hall also had many well-known visitors over the years, including Queen Mary, her daughter Mary, the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become King George VI and the Queen Mother). They may have visited during one of their tours of the Midlands and it may have only been for afternoon tea, but we do know that the Meynell family provided hospitality for Mary, the Princess Royal, probably in the 1920s and for whom a special bathroom co...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #20

...guests of Earl Fitzwilliam and their stay was to include a visit to Cadeby Colliery, the scene of a recent mining disaster, which made many a headline at the time. Wentworth Woodhouse   Apparently Hoar Cross Hall also had many well-known visitors over the years, including Queen Mary, her daughter Mary, the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of York (later to become King George VI and the Queen Mother). They may have visited during one of their tours of the Midlands and it may have only been for afternoon tea as we're not sure due to insufficient records, but we do know that the Meynell family provided hospitality for the Princess Royal, probably in...