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The life and times of an upper class family #42
Posted by Viv Wilson on 6th March 2022 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,Earl Grey,Earl Grey tea,Prime Minister,hickleton hall,Queen Mother,Scotland,keeping up with the aristocrats,downton Abbey,My dad bought a mansion
On 11th August 1863, Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram married the Hon. Emily Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Wood, Bart, afterwards 1st Viscount Halifax. The Woods were an old gentry family, for many centuries respectable York merchants. They were later to turn grand upon the discovery of coal beneath their ancestral estates. This was the great Barnsley field, with several hundred acres of Britain's deepest and finest coal. Sir Charles Wood was created 1st Viscount Halifax in 1866 and had a very distinguished political career. The family seats of Garrowby, Pocklington and Hickleton (where Emily was born) had been acquired by his father from the Wentworth family; t...
A Christmas Celebration #74
Posted by Viv Wilson on 20th December 2023 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,hoar cross hall spa hotel,barons eden,meynell ingram,servants,Butler,ghost,bells,christmas,party,Tour of the Hall,downton Abbey,the Crown,Drawing Room
The final festive story is here based on true events and people that lived at Hoar Cross Hall.
“Come on, look sharp!” shouted Cook to her assistants in the kitchen. “We’ve got a load of cooking to do for the Christmas party at the weekend and if you don’t get a move on there’ll be nothing to eat!”
The kitchen maids looked at each other, stopped their gossiping and started to move a bit quicker. Cook could be quite intimidating when she was in one of her moods. The table was laden with pastries, jellies and fruit and the girls were just putting the finishing touches to the gingerbread biscuits before starting on the blancmange.
“I love...
A New Year Calamity! #75
Posted by Viv Wilson on 29th December 2023 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall spa hotel,barons eden,new years eve,scottish piper,Balloons,christmas,mediaeval banquets,ballroom,my dad bought a mansion,downton Abbey,the crown,haunting,ghosts,attics,bell,calamity
The New Year’s Eve Ball at Hoar Cross Hall was usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballr...
To the Manor Born #77
Posted by Viv Wilson on 22nd February 2024 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | shardlow motor racing,hoar cross hall,barons eden,Swarkestone Bridge,bonnie prince charlie,Alpheus Burgin,Rectory,River Trent,18th century,Dower House,Shardlow Hall,Shardlow House,Shardlow Manor,The Crown,downton Abbey
Before we moved to Hoar Cross Hall my father had bought an old manor house in the village of Shardlow, near Derby, which had previously been a vicarage among other things. I think my parents must have had a love of historic buildings and indeed were members of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings and Monuments. My dad had a business in Derby at the time making alabaster items such as table lamps and candlestick holders and when he bought the manor house he moved his business there, as it had lots of outbuildings for all the alabaster equipment.
Some of my father's alabaster pieces
The house itself had about 17 rooms and was built i...
Ghosts of Christmas Past #88
Posted by Viv Wilson on 13th December 2024 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall spa hotel,barons eden,Haunted,ghost,christmas,attics,December,history,historic houses,stately home,Alice,Mince pies,Library,victorian,downton Abbey,The Aristocrats,The Royal Family,my dad bought a mansion
Welcome to another story based on true facts and things that went bump in the night at Hoar Cross Hall, to get you in the mood for all those Christmas ghost stories you'll be watching this season! Hope you don't get too scared!
The typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story. It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself. The attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot. Suddenly she looked up and realized how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulli...A Christmas Celebration #89
Posted by Viv Wilson on 20th December 2024 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall spa hotel,barons eden,my dad bought a mansion,party,Christmas,Meynell,first world war,second world war,palm house,downton Abbey,history,butler,cook
The final Christmas blog this year is a story of how the servants celebrated Christmas at Hoar Cross Hall, based around true events. The Meynells always gave a party for their servants and local tradesmen in the Long Gallery, and I imagine it went a bit like this!
“Come on, look sharp!” shouted Cook to her assistants in the kitchen. “We’ve got a load of cooking to do for the Christmas party at the weekend and if you don’t get a move on there’ll be nothing to eat!”
The kitchen maids looked at each other, stopped their gossiping and started to move a bit quicker. Cook could be quite intimidating when she was in one of her moods. The...