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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...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #39

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 and herbs. The palm house...

Huntin', Shootin' and Fishin' #6

...ses was a carp pond where they kept fish for the family to eat. Like everything else though it was empty and overgrown and full of weeds so no fishing for us, although we did try and find some fish in the big ponds in the woods but never did. In the main gardens there were two round lily ponds centred with a fountain which must have looked lovely in their day but like everything else they didn’t work. My dad did have a go at trying to make them work, even finding huge water tanks under the terraces which were the water supplies to the fountains but the pipes were rusted up so we left them alone. The carp pond with greenhouses in the background   Howeve...

Huntin', Shootin' and Fishin' #6

...ses was a carp pond where they kept fish for the family to eat. Like everything else though it was empty and overgrown and full of weeds so no fishing for us, although we did try and find some fish in the big ponds in the woods but never did. In the main gardens there were two round lily ponds with a fountain in the middle which must have looked lovely in their day but like everything else they didn’t work. My dad did have a go at trying to make them work, even finding huge water tanks under the terraces which were the water supplies to the fountains but the pipes were rusted up so we left them alone. The carp pond in the 1930s   However, in the garden...

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...

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...