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Gardeners World at Hoar Cross #43

In this week's blog I am focusing again on The servants who spent Their lives looking after The Meynell family along with Their home and gardens. 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 wa...

The life and times of an upper class family #44

On 11th August 1863, Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram married The Hon. Emily Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Wood, Bart, afterwards 1st Viscount Halifax. The Woods were an old gentry family, for many centuries respectable York merchants. They were later to turn grand upon The discovery of coal beneath Their ancestral estates. This was The great Barnsley field, with several hundred acres of Britain's deepest and finest coal. Sir Charles Wood was created 1st Viscount Halifax in 1866 and had a very distinguished political career. The family seats of Garrowby, Pocklington and Hickleton (where Emily was born) had been acquired by his faTher from The Wentworth family; t...

Hoar Cross Hall - A bit of History #54

Hoar Cross was part of Needwood Forest, The 11th century lands of Henry de Ferrers. The land was passed down to Henry’s son and subsequent various people over The course of 500 years ending with The Webb family, around The 1730s, who bought The land and house known as The Manor of The Cross. This was quite a large house built on a hill near Yoxall (which is The village next to Hoar Cross). In 1740 The manor house was demolished and later The Hon. Charles Talbot bought The estate for £17,000. Eventually it was sold to Hugo Meynell, who already owned huge amounts of property all over The county and was now about to add anoTher one to his portfolio. This branch...

The Church of The Holy Angels #55

Many stately homes had churches built near Them or even a chapel inside Them, as was done at Hoar Cross Hall. However, The church that was built in The grounds of The Hall became known as 'The CaThedral of The Midlands' due to its magnificent structure and is generally regarded as one of The finest Victorian churches in The country. It resembles a caThedral in miniature, being more like an English minster than a humble village church. When Emily Meynell Ingram's husband, Hugo died in 1871 from a hunting accident, she wanted to keep his memory alive. They had only been married for eight years and she had no children to comfort her and so in 1872 she commissioned...

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...

The Halifax Estates - Garrowby #46

Hugo Meynell-Ingram and his wife Emily Charlotte built Hoar Cross Hall to be Their home after getting married in 1863. Emily was The daughter of Sir Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax who owned considerable estates in The north of England. Their wealth came from The discovery of coal on Their ancestral estate. In addition to this Sir Charles had a very successful political career, owning many seats in Garrowby and Pocklington near York; Hickleton near Doncaster and a home in Belgrave Square, London. He was a member of The Whig party, which in those days was likened to The Liberal party of today and served as Chancellor of The Exchequer from 1846-52. In The 1850...