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Hoar Cross Hall - A bit of History #54

...Irwin and Lord Ingram. Temple Newsam in Yorkshire was their family seat and through the marriage the Meynell family inherited the Ingram estates in Lincolnshire. When the Hall was built in 1871 it was actually modelled on a wing of the Temple Newsam house, which is why they look so similar. In 1793, after buying the Hoar Cross estate from the Talbots, Hugo built a house which he used as an occasional hunting lodge. He called it Old Hall and this was built around a small courtyard about half a mile away from where the Hall would later be built. Hugo and Elizabeth had six children, the eldest child also being called Hugo, as was usual in those days. Hugo Charles w...

Bacon's 'Essay on Gardens' # 56

...Francis Bacon was born in 1561 and was 1st Viscount St Alban. He wrote his Essay on Gardens in 1625, a year before his death of pneumonia. He was also Lord Chancellor of England under King James I and led the advancement of both natural philosophy and scientific method and his works remained influential even in the late stages of the Scientific Revolution.  The essays he wrote between, mainly, 1612 and 1625 were about anything from love and marriage to superstitions to gardens and any subject in between! Bacon's genius as a phrase-maker appears to great advantage in the later essays and the 'Oxford Dictionary of Quotations' includes no fewer than 91 quotations...

Change and the Country House #61

...House of Lords by Gladstone in 1885-86 and by Lord Salisbury in 1886-92. In 1885 landowners became outnumbered in the House of Commons for the first time!  The middle classes by their combined wealth were eventually to prevail over the landowning class.  The innings for many families finally closed with the First World War.  Death duties had just been raised to a new level with no exemptions and the years following the war saw an endless trail of house and estate sales.  Many young women too, who had only known domestic service before the war, were now wanting to better themselves and work in shops and factories rather than be a ‘skivvy’. Servants at...

Meet the Neighbours - Blithfield Hall #78

...In 1959 Lord Bagot sold Blithfield Hall at an auction for £12,000 – and was bought by his wife, Nancy, Lady Bagot!  That’s one way to keep it in the family!  In 1986 the Hall was made into four separate houses with the Great Hall and main part of the house being owned by the Bagot Jewitt Trust and whose family remain in residence to this day.  So it’s nice to hear that at least one family managed to keep their inheritance – and their goats!   Don't miss next month's blog - 'Meet the Neighbours - Sudbury Hall'   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends.Join me on a Tour...

Meet the Neighbours - Trentham Gardens #83

...ille, 2nd Lord Gower was the owner of the park and he engaged the famous landscape designer, ‘Capability’ Brown to redesign the grounds.  The formal gardens, walks and walls were replaced by a mile long serpentine lake with a single island, lawns, sweeping gravelled walks, a bowling green and woodland walks.  All very typical of his style!  A sweeping drive extended up the west side of the lake and across a deer lawn flanked by a series of Ha Ha walls – very similar to the one at Hoar Cross Hall.  It seems that deer parks, lakes and walks were a ‘standard’ in most stately homes of that era. Moving on to 1833 and George Granville, 2nd Duke of Suthe...