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Meet the Neighbours - Sudbury Hall #79

Continuing the series on neighbouring houses to Hoar Cross Hall, let me introduce you to Sudbury Hall, which is about 7 miles away and on the border of Staffordshire and Derbyshire.  The manor of Sudbury was listed in the Doomsday Book following the Norman Conquest in 1086, so a lot older than the Hall, and is a Grade I listed building.  The Vernon family came to Sudbury after a 16th century marriage between Sir John Vernon, from Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, and the Sudbury heiress, Ellen Montgomery.  It seems the Vernon family have stayed in the Hall for generations right up until the 20th century when the 10th Baron Vernon transferred the Hall and its princip...

Meet the Neighbours - Coombe Abbey # 81

Although this house isn’t quite so neighbourly to Hoar Cross Hall as the others in this series, it is loosely linked to the hall as it was the inspiration for the Mediaeval Banquets that my parents ran in the 1970s.  They went along one night, to one of their banquets, to see what the format was and saw immediately how popular they were and so decided to start their own brand of banquets.  The Coombe Abbey banquets were very traditional and had minstrels playing lutes etc while people ate their meal.  The entertainment too was typical of mediaeval amusement of the times and I remember my parents saying it was an enjoyable night out but not terribly lively!�...

Meet the Neighbours - Trentham Gardens #83

This neighbour was a little further afield to Hoar Cross Hall than the other houses, as it was in Stoke-on-Trent.  However, we often visited the gardens and I went to a few concerts there which were held in the Ballroom of the house. It was very similar to Alton Towers in that it had formal gardens with a large house and in later years was made into pleasure grounds, although not as grand as the rides at Alton towers! Originally the Trentham site was a priory but had been demolished during the dissolution of the monasteries in Henry XIII’s reign.  In 1599 the first hall on this estate was built on the priory ruins but later in 1633 a Richard Leveson replace...

Mediaeval Weaponry #84

When we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in the 1970s, my father owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the UK at that time!  He owned about 20 suits of armour and numerous items of ‘arms’, which is another word for weapons.  The word ‘arms’ comes from the Latin ‘arma’ which means ‘tools of war’; this word passed into the English language from the French in 1200.  Mediaeval weapons consisted of halberds, double-edged swords, daggers, battle axes, crossbows and longbows to name but a few, these being the most common.  Knives were also used but mainly for eating and repairing, although I’m sure they got to be used as weapons too...

Lest we forget #86

During the two World Wars the Meynell family of Hoar Cross Hall served their country alongside many others from all walks of life.  After each war there was huge social upheaval, especially for women, who had been doing what was traditionally 'men's work' during the war and weren't prepared to go back to domestic roles.  At the time of the First World War Frederick Meynell and Lady Mary Meynell were living at the Hall with their five children.  Their four sons all served in the war and their daughter Margaret served in the Red Cross as a volunteer. Their eldest son Francis was a Major but was wounded in action in 1917 with severe wounds to his back. He was m...

Victorian Courtship - fans #91

For the next few months I will be doing a series on Victorian courtship starting in February, the month of love, as we have just celebrated Valentine’s Day on the 14th.  The Victorians used various items for flirting with, namely fans, gloves, parasols and handkerchiefs!  I imagine the Meynell family at Hoar Cross Hall held lots of dinner parties and Balls back in the Victorian days where most of the young ladies would have had their fans at the ready to signal to a secret beau.  But what were these signals and why were they used? The belief that the fan was used in society to express feelings or commands dates back to at least the early 18th century.  I...