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The Library #69

The Library at Hoar Cross Hall is a delightful room, not huge like the other rooms, but not too small either – a room fitted with mahogany bookshelves on three sides and a bay window overlooking the terrace and the gardens.  From this window, on a clear day, it is possible to see the “Three ladies of the vale” – the spires of Lichfield Cathedral.  Libraries have been around for centuries with evidence pointing to the Romano-British world when documents and manuscripts were stored in chests in special rooms where people could study them sitting at a table, not unlike today's libraries.   In the 15th century classical works were collected by men such...

Whodunit in the Library? #24

...y and the Library door locked, which was most unusual on both counts. I eventually got in through the secret door to find blood all over the floor – and I mean loads of it - right in the middle of the room. I thought I’d walked onto the set of a Hercule Poirot film – it was a real whodunit! It looked like someone had been murdered and then whilst looking around I found the ‘weapon’ – it was a Victorian truncheon that we had on display. This was a large wooden truncheon with a chunk of lead in the end - and it was covered in dried blood. This could do some serious damage if you were hit with it although Victorian policemen didn’t worry about that wh...

Ghosts of Christmas Past #88

...ns in the Library.  This was where they spent Christmas Day as, not only was it a nice room, but it had a large fireplace which meant a roaring log fire to keep them warm.  Viv forgot about the attic tenants as she helped trim the tree and listened to her mother telling her about the new tenants that were moving into the west wing apartment.  “I hope they don’t hear all those weird noises that we hear,” said Viv.  “They might leave!” Her mother laughed and told her that ghosts usually disappeared once a house was being lived in again. Viv sincerely hoped so! A week later, despite her vows about going to the attics, Viv was sitting in the den typ...

Ghouls Galore! #85

...ow in the Library is the original mirror that came to the Hall with Emily Meynell after she got married to Hugo in 1863. The current owners managed to source the mirror from another house and ever since it was installed in the Library people have seen a little girl running around the house!  There is also a bedroom upstairs where guests have heard a child knocking on the door and running away!  So even now, people are still seeing a ghostly child – or is it another one that came with the mirror? The story goes that one evening a barman working in the Library looked into the mirror and saw a little girl standing behind him in the secret doorway.  When he tu...

Becoming a Rock Chick #17

...into the Library through the secret door (which made the visitors jump even more) to find them looking at our guinea pigs! How could they think our lovely pets were rats? However, we did get rats in the house but that’s for another blog! The guinea pigs were safely put back into their hutch - not long after this we discovered that one of them was expecting babies! Not sure what happened in the Library but they were both supposed to be girls when we bought them!   The Library shelves that hid the guinea pigs!   After a couple of months at college I met a boy called Kev. He was in a band and his chat up line was that they needed a singer and he was pr...

WHODUNIT IN THE Library? #25

...y and the Library door locked, which was most unusual on both counts.  I eventually got in through the secret door to find blood all over the floor – and I mean loads of it - right in the middle of the room.  I thought I’d walked onto the set of a Hercule Poirot film – it was a real whodunit!  It looked like someone had been murdered and then whilst looking around I found the ‘weapon’ – it was a Victorian truncheon that we had on display.  This was a large wooden truncheon with a chunk of lead in the end - and it was covered in dried blood.  This could do some serious damage if you were hit with it although Victorian policemen didn’t worry abo...