Story Search Results

Victorian Society #93

...mer home, Old Hall on the Hoar Cross estate.  It housed 12 boys from all over England and even one from the Isle of Wight!  Eventually it was taken over by the Church of England’s Children’s Society in the 1920s when it was renamed St Michael’s House and became mixed-sex.  It ran for many years until its eventual closure in 1986 when it became a care home. Despite this side of things, Victorian England was the cultural capital of the English-speaking world.  Theatres were thriving with melodrama being the most popular, while the late 1870s saw the emergence of music Halls, which were hugely popular for all classes and included singing, dancing and ske...

Ghouls Galore! #85

...Going to sleep in a big Old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big Old house that’s haunted is even more scary!!  As we approach Hallowe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at Hoar Cross Hall and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days!  We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake.  The next day I would go upstairs to the attics to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.   They were all tightly shut as...

Skools out for Summer #16

...When Hugo and Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross Hall it included a whole estate with it, namely kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm and cottages. Old Hall (their original home) was also on the estate and was accessed via a private road, which ran from the main road. By the time the seventies came along the stable block and Old Hall were private houses and another part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home. Emily Meynell had started this home in the Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of the Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time. When we were at the Hall it was a mixed home and run by a husband and wife couple. They used to...

The life and times of an upper class family #42

...lived in Old Hall which was a hunting lodge near to where they were later to build Hoar Cross Hall. Tragically, after moving into the Hall, which took nine years to build, Hugo died from injuries sustained in a riding accident some fourteen months earlier which had left him bed-ridden. Upon her husband's death, Emily's brother, the Hon. Frederick George Lindley Wood, moved from Hickleton and came to live with her. He was a huge help with managing all the estates that Emily had inherited on Hugo's death. He also became her 'reader' as Emily had poor eyesight and couldn't read or write for more than a few minutes.   Hickleton House,  Emily's childhood home...

Motor Racing Days #9

...MOTOR RACING DAYS Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 5...

Motor Racing Days #9

...Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 500cc (which is the...