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A New Year Calamity! #35

The New Year’s Eve Balls at Hoar Cross Hall were usually The highlight of The year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running The Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through The winter, we were always ready to see out The year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for The men and long dresses for The ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in The new year with his bagpipes. Down The Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into The Ballroom wi...

The History of Temple Newsam #37

In 1782, Hugo Meynell's grandfaTher, 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 and Lord Ingram.  The family seat was Temple Newsam in Yorkshire and this was how The Hoar Cross Meynell family became associated with this great house.  Through this marriage of Hugo and 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 and built a hunting lodge which was known as Old Hall. Hugo and Elizabeth had six ch...

What The Butler Saw! #42

Anyone who’s seen Downton Abbey will remember Carson The butler. He is exactly how a butler would have been in The 19th century, 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. 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. They usually started as footmen and worked Their way up fro There.  Most butlers stayed at The same household until They retired and probably...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #45

This week I’ve done a history blog about The servants who lived at The Hall from The 1870s to The 1950s when The Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by The aristocracy as They went about Their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light all The fires and dust and polish The floors, Then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder They didn’t live to a great age in those days! By The end of The 19th century There were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls went in...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #49

With The King's Coronation looming on 6th May in The UK, I thought I'd do some royal family related articles this month starting with royal visitors at The Hall in The 1920s. I also have a book called Queen Alexandra's Christmas Gift Book which was left in The Library and shows personal photos from her own camera which she took of The royal family between 1900-1910 -  a rare insight indeed into what The royals did in Their leisure time!  I will be sharing These photos over The next month leading up to The Coronation and hope you find Them as fascinating as I do. Royal Visitors From earliest times The king's court has travelled around The kingdom so The king...

Get me to The church on time #31

And so our wedding day at Hoar Cross Hall arrived bright and clear, all thoughts of solicitors, legals, fights and arrests behind us! Myself and my bridesmaids went to get our hair done in The morning and Kev slapped a piece of steak on his jaw to bring The swelling down after The raTher unfortunate fight at his stag do. Fortunately, The bruise didn’t show up too much on The photos! My broTher Gavin drove my dad’s Mercedes Benz car all The way down The drive and back up The road to The church – this is one of The drawbacks of having a church next door to your house; you don’t get to drive all through The town with everyone looking at you! At least a sma...