Posted by Viv Wilson on 24th September 2025 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall spa hotel,barons eden,downton abbey,Highclere Castle,Bishop of Winchester,first world war,Great War,meynell ingram,Shropshire,Leicestershire,Derbyshire,History,period drama,Servants,Suffragettes,my dad bought a mansion,Earl of Carnarvon,tomb of tutankhamun,Eqyptologist,Lord Grantham
With the new Downton Abbey film out this month I thought I would do a comparison
of the two family homes, Downton and Hoar Cross Hall, the latter being my old family home for those
of you who are new to these blogs. Although Downton Abbey is fictional, the house on which it is based is not, it being Highclere Castle in Hampshire which was built in 1679 and is owned by the Earl
of Carnarvon. Hoar Cross Hall was the original home
of the Meynell Ingram family who first came from Leicestershire and was built in 1863. Hugo Meynell
of Quorndon was the High Sheriff
of Staffordshire and Member
of Parliament for Lichfield and the family owned considerable property in...