Story Search Results

Things that go bump in the night #3

...t the old butler haunted these rooms! In fact, I actually saw him on one occasion a few years later. The gloomy basement corridor   Many people that stayed overnight at the Hall also heard these and other noises and in the ensuing years we were to experience many ghostly happenings but you’ll have to wait a little longer to hear about them – check out my future blogs! Don’t miss next week’s instalment:   Doing up a stately home If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.              ...

The Kitchen Maid's Story #37

...ed by the butler who joined in the game of baiting her. Cooks like this were typical of her kind – ‘trained with the whip’ – and Jenny found the working conditions difficult. However, leaving wasn’t easy as she lived at the Hall, all her belongings were there, her mother and sisters were all living and working a long way off and she also sent money home to her grandparents. She was also determined not to be beaten by the cook. During ‘the season’ most of the staff went to the family’s London house. For those of you who don’t know what ‘the season’ is, it was a time between January and June which coincided with the opening of Parliament. Th...

Behind the green baize door #47

...from the butler and housekeeper at the top to the scullery maid at the bottom! All with their own jobs to do and different parts of the house to do them in. A typical green baize door in need of TLC!   At Hoar Cross Hall there was a spiral staircase leading off the front entrance hall through a wooden door. This went down to the basement and kitchens so the butler and footmen could quickly run up the steps to answer the front door and wait on the family. It was like a green baize door without the baize! This staircase also led up to the west wing on the first floor where the nursery was and could be easily accessed by the schoolroom maid and the governe...

Summer Balls and Garden Parties #97

...Balls and functions held at Hoar Cross Hall were lavish affairs, especially before the First World War, with the catering and other services invariably being provided by premier London companies.  In 1907, Gunter & Co of Berkeley Square, London, could supply a Ball supper and refreshments for ten shillings (50p) a head, plus 'extra services'. For a Ball Supper in January 1913, Mayfair Catering, Grosvenor Square, assured Lady Mary Meynell that they had engaged 'a superior staff of tall waiters' to attend her guests and, “.....if waiters are desired to be in Full Dress (silk stockings) the additional cost will be five shillings (25p) per man.”  They als...

THE GRAND OPENING #5

...THE GRAND OPENING: And so into 1971 and the preparation of the house so we could open it to the public by Easter.  During the run up to buying the house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like  crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as all the arms and armour that he already had.  This furniture was now set out in all the rooms.  The Long Gallery My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in the Ballroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around the panelled walls; the suits of armour and the m...

Moving in - to a stately home! #2

...t 6pm the butler and footman would go over to the pumping station to pump water into the tanks which were situated in the two towers at each end of the house. This provided the house with fresh water each day. The ponds were also there in case the house ever caught fire and they had a ready supply of water! In another part of the woods we found a shed with a Victorian fire pump and ladders in it – still there after all those years! The Victorian fire ladders   One day whilst on baby sitting duties my little brother went missing in the woods and we were terrified that he might have fallen into the ponds that we’d recently found – a huge search was m...