Story Search Results

The Church of the Holy Angels #55

...s came to England as plain carvings then Emily employed an artist to carry out the colouring work on them at Hoar Cross. Everything was done under her personal supervision and her favourite dog even features on one of the tableaux!  Sadly I only have black and white photos of the inside of the church so the colouring work cannot be fully appreciated. One of the Stations of the Cross   Emily was responsible for the creation of the Hoar Cross Parish which came into being on 6th August 1874. The first vicar was Rev. William Dunkerley who had come to the village in 1873 and took up residence at the Hall, and commenced regular services in the school. Over th...

Rags to Riches #63

...rrived in England from Jamaica.  He was a weight lifter and turned the works into a gym and weight training centre.  He went on to win medals in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and also won four world titles, four European titles and broke four world records!  In 2018 he was added to the Derby Walk of Fame and has a star on the pavement there which was unveiled by his son in recent years. Wendy with her sculpture   After the First World War the market places were full of tea chests with swords and guns from the Boer War and the First World War.  My dad found all this stuff fascinating and started collecting it when he about 12 years old.  It started a li...

The graveyard shift #24

...in rural England!   Don’t miss next week’s exciting instalment:  Whodunit in the Library? If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.  ...

Gardeners World at Hoar Cross #36

...GARDENERS’ WORLD AT HOAR CROSS:      In it’s heyday Hoar Cross Hall had around 28 people employed to keep the 20 acres of grounds tidy and weed free. In Victorian England the most common of all male servants was the gardener. At Hoar Cross the head gardener had numerous under-gardeners known affectionately as ‘digging slaves’! They were responsible for producing fruit, vegetables and growing luxury items in and out of season, much of it under glass. Adjacent to the house was the carp pool and greenhouse area along with a palm house; next to these was a walled kitchen garden. This supplied the house with all its fruit, vegetables and herbs. The palm h...

The War Years and Beyond #37

...Church of England in the early 1990s, the first and only twins to have done so at that time. Ironically the house became a Hotel and Spa in 1990 with a swimming pool in exactly the same location as where the monks were going to put theirs!      And so onto 1970 when my family bought the Hall. Apparently my dad had seen a notice about the contents sale of Dr Gillies in 1963, and had shown an interest in the Hall back then. I imagine my mother said ‘No’ as she had two small children at that time! Mrs Meynell had kept his phone number and rang him up in 1969 to see if he was still interested in buying the Hall after the monks had left. This time he sai...

The Graveyard Shift #23

...in rural England!   Don’t miss next week’s exciting instalment: Whodunit in the Library? If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.                ...