Story Category: Growing Up In Stately Home (7 posts)

Viv Wilson | 27th February 2025 | Life at The Hall

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. It wasn't like nowadays where you just jump on an app and find the nearest available person to meet up with! Young ladies were expected to be discreet as their reputations were at stake - any young woman with the slightest slur on her character would not be considered marriageable, which is hard to believe in these modern times of 'Girl power' and equal rights. For a woman back then, her only choice was to make a good marriage so she was set for life and well looked after, as women couldn't be financially independent and totally relied on a man (firstly their father, then a husband) to look after them. And so, this is where the fans came in. They could look for a man without seeming 'forward'. They were expected to know how to hold their fans, unfurl their fans and flutter their fans! Emotions were also added to the movement of fans: “There is an infinite variety of motions to be made use of in the flutter of a fan. There is the angry flutter, the modish flutter, the merry flutter and the amorous flutter.” Oh la-la! So much to learn before you’re launched into society! In 1797 a “Fanology or Ladies Conversation Fan” was printed, designed by Charles Badini, and this included lettered inscriptions and explanations of how to communicate in code. So what are the secret signs I hear you ask! Her...

Viv Wilson | 09th January 2022 | Life at The Hall

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 that she secured the job at the Hall. Inez’s parents were themselves in service; her mother had been a lady’s maid and her father was a butler for the Spanish Ambassador in London – from which source Inez assumes her Christian name originated. There was little choice but to go into service in those days (her sister, Beatrice, was also a nursery maid with the Earl and Countess of Lichfield), and she was engaged on a salary of £18 per annum. Her mother made her uniform, which comprised of a morning dress and an afternoon dress, and Lady Dorothy Meynell supplied her cap. She was the personal maid to Lady Dorothy’s eldest daughter, Dorothy, who was just four years younger than Inez. She also looked after Dorothy’s younger sister, Rachael. The schoolroom at this time was situated just off the main Entrance Hall, and immediately below the nursery. Inez worked under the supervision of Mrs Catt, the housekeeper, Miss Rhodes, the lady’s maid, and the head housemaid, Rose. Her day began at 6am every day and she was so afraid of oversleeping that she kept an alarm clock under her pillow! The first job of the day was always to clean the grates and get the fires lit, then sweep and dust the schoolroom, lay the table for breakfast, call the governess, Miss Chromy, with morning tea, then to attend Mi...

Viv Wilson | 11th July 2021 | Life at The Hall

It was the end of the summer season at Hoar Cross Hall in 1973 and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets. All the cast would come round to the house each week for rehearsals and my mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches. My mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy! We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies. To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and so we all gathered at the Hall one day in early September. There were lots of nibbles and quite a lot of champagne flowing and the newspapers and radio stations turned up to take lots of photos of us all in various poses and record interviews with the cast. It was a lovely, warm Autumn day and many of the photos were taken outdoors (see header photo). I remember it turning out to be quite a party, even though it started at 9.30 in the morning; as the day wore on the organist started playing a few of the songs we would be doing at the banquets, and everyone started dancing and singing along – it was 4pm by the time we finished! And so arrived the day of the first banquet. All the furniture and costumes from the Chinese Room and Ballroom had been removed and put into storage elsewhere in the house. A local carpenter had made long tables and benches to seat about 200 guests in the Ballroom, which was now known as the Banqueting Hall. We had employed caterers to do the food and the Chinese Room was used as a food preparation area next to the kitchen/café. A bar had been built in the middle of the Long Gallery. I had to sew numbers onto the coat hangers for the cloakroom – it took all day to do 100 hangers! The afternoon was spent laying the tables with mugs, daggers and serviettes. Before 7pm we went to get changed into our mediaeval dresses; Myra (t...

Viv Wilson | 12th April 2021 | Life at The Hall

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AN UPPER CLASS FAMILIY: 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; they also owned a London house in Belgrave Square. Hickleton House, near York Emily Charlotte's mother was Lady Mary Grey, youngest daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl and Whig Prime Minister from 1830-34. It was he who the famous Earl Grey tea was named after, after a special taste was created by adding oil of bergemot to black tea. His administration was also responsible for passing the first Reform Act of 1832 which changed how the elections were done and meant that the middle classes could vote also. Once Hugo and Emily were married they moved to Hoar Cross and lived in Old Hall which was a hunting lodge near to where they were later to build Hoar Cross Hall. Tragically, after moving into the Hall which took nine years to build, Hugo died from injuries sustained in a riding accident some fourteen months earlier which had left him bed-ridden. Upon her husband's death, Emily's brother, the Hon. Frederick George Lindley Wood, moved from Hickleton and came to live with her. He was a huge help with managing all the estates that Emily had inherited on Hugo's death. He also became her 'reader' as Emily had poor eyesight and couldn't read or write for more than a few minutes. Frederick Meynell in 1905 In 1878 Frederick married Lady Mary Lin...

Viv Wilson | 09th November 2020 | Life at The Hall

SUITS YOU SIR! When we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in 1970 the organ in the private chapel wasn’t working as the house had been empty for 20 years. It was such a shame as it had been designed by Bodley, the famous organ maker of the 19th century. The chapel itself had been added about 25 years after the house was built at the staggering cost of just under £1000! When one of the visitors to the house said he could fix the organ, my dad readily agreed. This chap really loved organs and volunteered his services free of charge just for the love of mending this musical work of art; my dad was over the moon! Alas, after removing all the pipes and laying them out in the basement, he found that he couldn’t carry on with the renovations and we never saw him again! When Kev saw the organ in pieces he offered to try and fix it and we spent many an hour in the chapel and basement trying to work out which pipe went where and how to make it play again. But it was quite complicated and it was an ongoing project for some time – still, it kept us busy! The divorce was getting quite bad by now and I had to accompany my dad to the solicitors on more than one occasion, mainly for moral support but also to back up what was happening in the house between my parents as I witnessed quite a lot of arguments and fights. The solicitor explained to my dad that his antique collection would be classed as ‘chattels’ in the marriage and my mum would be entitled to half of it. My dad went berserk as usual and vowed that she wouldn’t have any of his antiques as they were his means of earning money and not part of the domestic furniture. However, as he was classed as self employed, his collection was deemed part of the family belongings. The Mediaeval Banquets business was now in my mum’s name as a limited company and she ran them herself, separate from my dad. My dad still got the rent money from the apartments and the takings from the house when it was open to the public, and of ...

Viv Wilson | 21st September 2020 | Life at The Hall

HYSTERICAL PRODUCTIONS: By the end of 1974 we had done about 40 banquets at Hoar Cross Hall and they were still going strong. Most of the original cast were still with us but we were on our second King now and also doing our own catering and bar, whereas when we first started, we had a catering firm in to do it all. Every weekend over 200 people came to sample our Noble Brose, Roast Lambe and Saracen’s Delight and sing along to ‘I’m Henry VIII’ whilst drinking beer, wine and mead. But it was a very adult environment for 15 year old girls to work in; a few of my school friends also worked at the banquets as wenches and we were constantly being chatted up by men who bought us drinks all evening. The cast were all married men but that didn’t seem to bother them and one or two of my friends were always sneaking off with one or other of them. But despite the seventies shenanigans the nights were always a good laugh and there were lots of funny things that happened. Myra (the fire-eater’s wife) and I always did the cloakroom and one time this lady took her coat off and as she did so her halter neck top came undone and she stood there in her bra and skirt for all to see! The banquet menu Once the banquets started we would join in with the singing, even standing behind the main act and pretending to be the backing group. My dad would wear a sombrero and shake maracas to a Latin song while we threw petals all over him – don’t ask me why! The next day, when cleaning up, we would find all sorts of things which people had left behind: scarves, perfume, money, cigarettes and even a set of false teeth left on the mantelpiece! I had found a little hidey hole in the wooden panelling in the Long Gallery; a small 6” square door which pushed open when pressed in the right place and I would keep things in there which I found – especially the cigarettes! In the middle of all this busyness my dad still found time to go to arms and armour exhibitions, one in...

Viv Wilson | 15th October 2018 | Life at The Hall

MY DAD BOUGHT A MANSION! It was the summer of 1970, Mungo Jerry was at the top of the hit parade and we were about to move house. But not to any old house – to a 70 roomed mansion in 20 acres of grounds! For years my dad had collected antiques, ever since he was a young boy of 12, and it was his dream to own a large house where he could put them on show to the general public. In the 1970s he owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the country and his dream was about to be realised; but little did we know what a nightmare would unfold before us. Hoar Cross Hall was the home of the Meynell Ingram family who originated from Leicestershire. Hugo Meynell of Quorndon was the High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Member of Parliament for Lichfield and the family owned considerable property in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Derbyshire. He bought the Hoar Cross estate in 1793 and built a hunting lodge there known as Old Hall and founded the Meynell Hunt. It seemed the family lived here for many years until Hugo’s grandson, also Hugo, got married in 1863 and decided to build the present Hall for him and his wife, Emily Charlotte. The house took nine years to build and was eventually finished in 1871. Hugo and Emily had already moved in, but their new life together was soon to be cut short by a tragic accident. Fourteen months earlier at Birch Wood on their estate Hugo had a horse riding accident and had been bed-ridden ever since – he died in May of that year. They had no children and Emily 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 almost a hundred years later. On Hugo’s death Emily inherited many large estates and they say she was a double millionairess – which in those days was a huge amount of money! And so we moved to this house with all its history and tragedies in the summer of 1970. My family consisted of my mum and dad and two younger bro...