Story Search Results

The War Years and Beyond #36

...l home in London was offered to the War Office and the Red Cross and became a Military Hospital for officers, being used by Francis Meynell himself who was wounded in action. View from the Deer Park (the copse is on the right)   One feature at the Hall was the daily barometric readings; these had been taken since 1880 up until the Second World War, when readings ceased. The Clerk of Works at Hoar Cross, namely one F W Lycett, had kept a meticulous Meteorological Register in the early years of the century. He kept them in two large leather-bound volumes, the last entry being in February 1941. Once the war was over things got back to some sort of ‘norma...

Calendar Girls and Front Covers #7

...CALENDAR GIRLS AND FRONT COVERS: Occasionally people would hire the Hall and during the summer of 1973 a photographer from London hired the place for a day.  He brought two models with him, one English and one German and they were taking photos for a glamour calendar.  We were told to keep right out of the way as they were taking photos in the gardens as well as the house.  Naturally we wanted to see everything that was going on and Gavin especially was very keen to watch – so much so that he found a pair of binoculars to follow all the proceedings!  We managed to find all sorts of hiding places eventually settling in our attic room to keep tabs on everyt...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #49

...red their London home to be used during the First World War but it was not needed in the end. During the King and Queen's tours they would have stopped at nearby stately homes that were big enough to accommodate themselves and their entourage, which would include servants, private secretaries and equerries. The whole household would be in an uproar as servants rushed to get ready guest rooms and bathrooms along with the extra space needed for the royal servants. This scenario was acted out in a Downton Abbey episode when King George V and Queen Mary came to stay for a few days. In actual fact the storyline was based on true events when they stayed at a stately...

The Church of the Holy Angels #55

...included London's St Pancreas Station and the Albert Memorial. His son, George and Bodley worked together on the project and created a modern English perpendicular style of church. Specifically, it is English Gothic of the latter half of the 14th century but together Scott and Bodley promoted an ecclesiastical version of the William Morris movement. George Bodley, Architect  C1900   William Morris was an artist, writer and decorator concerned with raising standards of Victorian design and through the Arts and Crafts movement he promoted the creative dignity of craftsmen as opposed to manufactured goods. Thus it was believed that an architect should des...

Hoar Cross Hall meets Downton Abbey #99

...pened her London home in Lennox Gardens to be used as a Military Hospital for officers during the First World War.  Indeed, her own son, Francis, stayed there for a while recovering from severe wounds to the back in 1917, something which he never really recovered from resulting in his early death in 1941 at the age of 52.  Hoar Cross Hall was too remote   Although these aristocratic families seemed to live very charmed lives (and a lot of them did!) they also ran their estates to provide food and farm the land.  This also gave local people much needed employment although being a domestic servant in those days could be quite hard with long hours and no...

VENTURES NEW #10

...trips to London for sales at Sothebys or Christies auction houses.  I once went with him and we spotted the actor Rodney Bewes from The Likely Lads TV programme – he pulled up next to Sothebys in his Rolls Royce! My dad’s antique collection continued to grow as he couldn’t resist a bargain and he would often go to a sale to get one thing and come back with something else – much to my mother’s annoyance!  Once he was meant to get more Bentwood chairs for the café and he came back with hundreds of silver spoons as he thought they would be more useful to sell to the visitors!  He loved a bargain as he was very ‘careful’ with his money and liked...