Story Search Results

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #18

...from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done. Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work! A typical Victorian kitchen - this is how the Hall kitchen would have looked   By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen. Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances and hardly any hunting and shooting. I think the First World War had a lot to do with staff cutbacks as society was changing betwe...

The War Years and Beyond #40

...vice. The attics, which were once full of servant girls, were now empty and by 1950 the number of servants had fallen to just three or four with a few men working in the gardens. Over the next twenty years the beautiful gardens gradually fell into a state of decay, which is how we found them when we moved there in 1970. The overgrown gardens in 1970   By now much of the Meynell estate lands had been disposed of. Local properties were sold to tenants and others. The Hoar Cross estate, once the pivot of the local community and a source of employment, was being considerably reduced. Colonel Meynell, who had been seriously wounded in the Second World War, wa...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #19

...from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done. Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work!   Lady Dorothy with her three children   By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen. Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances and hardly any hunting and shooting. I think the First World War had a lot to do with staff cutbacks as society was changing between the wars and Lady Dorothy’s two...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life Below Stairs #35

...from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done. Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work!   A plan of the basement rooms where the servants lived and worked    By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen. Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances and hardly any hunting and shooting. I think the First World War had a lot to do with staff cutbacks as society was changing between the...

The War Years and Beyond #39

...vice. The attics, which were once full of servant girls, were now empty and by 1950 the number of servants had fallen to just three or four with a few men working in the gardens. Over the next twenty years the beautiful gardens gradually fell into a state of decay, which is how we found them when we moved there in 1970. The overgrown lawns   By now much of the Meynell estate lands had been disposed of. Local properties were sold to tenants and others. The Hoar Cross estate, once the pivot of the local community and a source of employment, was being considerably reduced. Colonel Meynell, who had been seriously wounded in the Second World War, was sufferin...

The War Years and Beyond #37

...vice. The attics, which were once full of servant girls, were now empty and by 1950 the number of servants had fallen to just three or four with a few men working in the gardens. Over the next twenty years the beautiful gardens gradually fell into a state of decay, which is how we found them when we moved there in 1970. By now much of the Meynell estate lands had been disposed of. Local properties were sold to tenants and others. The Hoar Cross estate, once the pivot of the local community and a source of employment, was being considerably reduced. Colonel Meynell, who had been seriously wounded in the Second World War, was suffering from his disability and it...