Story Search Results

Here Comes the Bride (Part 2) # 28

And so our wedding day at Hoar Cross Hall arrived bright and clear, all thoughts of solicitors, legals, fights and arrests behind us! Myself and my bridesmaids went to get our hair done in the morning and Kev slapped a piece of steak on his jaw to bring the swelling down after the rather unfortunate fight at his stag do. Fortunately, the bruise didn’t show up too much on the photos! Gavin drove my dad’s Mercedes Benz car all the way down the drive and back up the road to the Church – this was one of the drawbacks of having a Church in your grounds; you don’t get a nice long drive through the town where everyone can see you! Never mind, a small crowd of l...

the Schoolroom Maid's Story #36

For the first 75 years of Hoar Cross Hall’s history about 50 servants were employed by the Meynell family in the house and grounds. Among these was a young girl of fifteen who started work in 1920 as a Schoolroom Maid. Her name was Miss Inez Sophia Large and she had connections to Hoar Cross through her grand-parents, William and Mary Tooth, who lived in the village where William was the blacksmith; his smithy was just along from the Meynell public house. He had worked on the ironwork of the Hall during its construction in the 1860s. Inez’s aunt, Constance Madeley, was the wife of the landlord at the Buffalo Inn, in nearby Newborough, and it was through her...

An Edwardian Schoolroom Maid #40

For the first 75 years of Hoar Cross Hall’s history about 50 servants were employed by the Meynell family in the house and grounds. Among these was a young girl of fifteen who started work in 1920 as a Schoolroom Maid. Her name was Miss Inez Sophia Large and she had connections to Hoar Cross through her grand-parents, William and Mary Tooth, who lived in the village where William was the blacksmith; his smithy was just along from the Meynell public house. He had worked on the ironwork of the Hall during its construction in the 1860s. Inez’s aunt, Constance Madeley, was the wife of the landlord at the Buffalo Inn, in nearby Newborough, and it was through her...

Hoar Cross Hall meets Downton Abbey #99

...ily built the Church of the Holy Angels in the grounds of the hall in memory of her husband. This is the Church that I got married in over a hundred years later. On Hugo’s death Emily inherited the family's many large estates and they say she was a double millionairess – which in those days was a huge amount of money! Emily Charlotte   the original site of Highclere Castle was recorded in the Doomsday Book of 1086 when an Anglo-Saxon king granted the estate to the Bishops of Winchester and in the 14th century a palace was built there by the Bishop.  However, it was confiscated during the Reformation by Henry VIII.  Later it was rebuilt in 1679 by S...

Aristocratic travels # 39

...ARISTOCRATIC TRAVELS:   Emily Charlotte Meynell, the original owner of Hoar Cross Hall, was probably one of the wealthiest independent women of the late 19th century in Britain.  Her property included country estates around the Midlands, a London house in Eaton Square and a villa in Florence.  For many years she owned a yacht, the latter a fully-crewed schooner of 380 tons.  the family had large financial resources in addition to their estate income, through which they were sustained until well into the 20th century. Emily cruised the Mediterranean every springtime in her yacht and occasionally crossed the North Sea to the Netherlands and Germany in the su...

Hickleton Hall and the Meynells #43

...This lovely Grade II listed Georgian house in South Yorkshire was once the childhood home of the Honourable Emily Charlotte Meynell who married Hugo Meynell of Hoar Cross and who, together with Hugo, built Hoar Cross Hall to be their family home in 1873. the original house was called Hickleton Palace and had been built for Judge Francis Rodes in the 16th century but in 1745 Hickleton Hall was built just to the south of this house after the estate was bought by Godfrey Wentworth in about 1730. Thirty years later he extended the house and added two low wings, one either side, and a servants wing. Emily's father, Charles Wood, 3rd Baronet, inherited the house in...