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The War Years and Beyond #36
Posted by Viv Wilson on 6th January 2023 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,Red Cross,christian community,Hotel and Spa,hollybush park,burton general hospital,consultant,Doctor,Birmingham,evacuees,second world war,Hospital,fradley aerodrome,Lichfield,War Office
During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically. It was no different at Hoar Cross Hall. The flower borders on the main lawns were turfed over to reduce maintenance and vegetables were grown in areas formerly restricted to flowers. Evacuees from Birmingham came to stay for the duration of the war and they lived in the basement, as it was considered to be the safest place. I imagine that they must have been in the care of the servants as they were living amongst them but it must also have been quite exciting for them to move from a bombed out city to the relative safety of the countryside, although they must have missed their parents of c...
Moving Out#32
Posted by Viv Wilson on 28th October 1980 in Early Days | Fools and Horses,lock,oven,washing machine,Ferrari,Derby,Farmhouse,hoar cross hall
MOVING OUT: And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave the Hall. Ten years after moving in he was now moving out, leaving his dream home for my mum to live in alone. Gavin moved with him and Piers was away at school most of the time. It was a mammoth task as he had so much stuff to move, especially from the basement. He had some heavy machinery too that he’d brought with him from his alabaster days, including a band saw which we used to saw up logs for the huge fireplaces in the main rooms. He had bought a house in nearby burton on Trent which had some outbuildings for a workshop and there he moved to start a...
See you in Court #28
Posted by Viv Wilson on 29th April 2019 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,The Jam,burton on trent,Meynell arms,Birmingham Crown Court,Sothebys Auction House
SEE YOU IN COURT: The saga of my parents’ split continued as we grew up in our stately home, although their behaviour was anything but stately for most of the time! Seven years of arguing and fighting were about to come to an end and the solicitors had finally agreed on a date to go to court. We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall and he still went to his boat in Caernarfon at weekends to get away from the house but we were all getting weary of it now. We were young adults and wanting to get on with our own lives. After five years together we were hoping to get married at some point so we were glad that it was finally going to be sorted...
The tax man cometh! #29
Posted by Viv Wilson on 6th May 2019 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,meynell arms,burton on trent,Duchy of Cornwall,lotus elite,tax office,HMRC
THE TAX MAN COMETH: My parents’ court case was finally over and my dad had six months to leave the house. In the meantime my mum had to find the funds to buy him out and he had to find another house to live in. He also had an awful lot of stuff to move too! He eventually found a house in nearby burton-on-Trent but as it was obviously a lot smaller he had to get rid of a lot of his possessions and one of the first things to go was his Lotus Elite. He advertised it in the local paper but instead of getting a phone call from a likely buyer, the first call was from the local tax office. Back in those days they used to check advertisements in the news...The War Years and Beyond #37
Posted by Viv Wilson on 17th May 2020 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,hollybush park,Victorian,burton general hospital,Bishops,evacuees,Birmingham,second world war
THE WAR YEARS AND BEYOND: During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically. It was no different at Hoar Cross Hall. The flower borders on the main lawns were turfed over to reduce maintenance and vegetables were grown in areas formerly restricted to flowers. Evacuees from Birmingham came to stay for the duration of the war and they lived in the basement, as it was considered to be the safest place. I imagine that they must have been in the care of the servants as they were living amongst them but it must also have been quite exciting for them to move from a bombed out city to the relative safety of the countryside, although they mu...
Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history! #14
Posted by Viv Wilson on 2nd June 1973 in History | Meynell,First World War,Second World War,Newborough,Hugo Meynell,William the Conqueror,hoar cross hall,red cross,George VI,Queen mother
HOAR CROSS HALL - A BIT OF HISTORY: Due to many requests asking about the history of the house, this week I'm taking a break from my family's story to look back a few hundred years of what happened before we lived there! 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...