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Mediaeval Mayhem! #13

It was the end of the summer season at Hoar Cross Hall in 1973 and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets. All the cast would come round to the house each week for rehearsals and my mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches. My mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy! We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies. To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and so we all gathered at the Hall one day in ea...

The Kitchen Maid's Tale #41

...although balls carried on for a number of years, they gradually died out in the 1970s.   A debutante arrives for the ball in her Rolls Royce   Once the season was over and Jenny returned to the Hall she was busy in the kitchen straightaway. She tells how there were visitors arriving and her statement below shows the implications for the staff of a large country house:- “I don’t know who they were, but they were a lady and gentleman, a valet and lady’s maid, a grown-up daughter, and a very young child. Young enough to have a nanny. That meant three extra in the dining room, two extra in the steward’s room, an extra nanny, and an extra child. A...

Change and the Country House #61

...t and the ballot box which were creating a lot of change.  By the end of the 19th century, the traditional community responsibilities of the country gentleman had been eroded and institutionalized due to the creation of county councils in 1888.  Up until then the justices of the peace (JPs) represented generally by the gentry and the clergy, supervised jails, arranged road and bridge repairs, and dealt with minor offences in the special ‘Justice Room’ found in some country houses.  Once the local councils were doing this job the aristocrat ceased to be needed quite so much. Neglected gardens at Hoar Cross Hall   In 1894 the introduction of death d...

More Tea Vicar? #12

...t full of balloons onto the crowd and everyone would set off their party poppers. Gavin’s birthday was New Year’s Day so he was allowed to come down just before midnight and everyone would sing Happy Birthday to him.  Not many youngsters of that age had 500 people singing birthday wishes to them and a huge party in their house!   If this is your first visit to my blog site and you would like to read from the beginning of the story, please click here!Don’t miss next week’s instalment:  Skool’s Out For Summer!  - Subscribe now and please feel free to share with any friends that might be interested in my story!...

Hysterical Productions #16

...HYSTERICAL PRODUCTIONS: By the end of 1974 we had done about 40 banquets and they were still going strong.  Most of the original cast were still with us but we were on our second king now and also doing our own catering and bar, whereas when we first started, we had got a catering firm in to do it all.  Every weekend over 200 people came to sample our Noble Brose, Roast Lambe and Saracen’s Delight and sing along to ‘I’m Henry VIII I am’ whilst drinking beer, wine and mead.  But it was a very adult environment for 15 year old girls to work in; a few of my school friends also worked at the banquets as wenches and we were constantly being chatted up by...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross

...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 a...