Story Search Results

My Dad Bought A Mansion! #1

...g Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors!  How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries!  There were about 15 basement rooms, some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot, but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where a lot of the male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage cupboards.   In the attic a similar number of rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants.  Two spiral staircases joined all the floors togethe...

Hoar Cross Hall - A bit of History #54

...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 and later the Hon. Charles Talbot bought the estate for £17,000. Eventually it was sold to Hugo Meynell, who already owned huge amounts of property all over the county and was now about to add another one to his portfolio. This branch...

Whodunit in the Library? #26

...down the Chapel Hall and into the Library – I really hoped a visitor didn’t see it!  In an attempt to kill them off my dad poured rat poison down the holes in the floorboards in the kitchen and our lounge.  Within a couple of weeks we knew they were dead – because of the awful smell!  So even when we didn’t have to worry about rats in the house, we had to contend with the stench of them decaying under the floorboards!  Then my dad had a brilliant idea – he poured bleach down the holes.  It did sort of have the desired effect but we’ve never forgotten that awful smell of dead rat mixed with bleach!  Eventually we had to get the floor boards up...

Our mansion gets a facelift #4

...g off the Chapel Corridor – yes, this house boasted its own Chapel which the Meynell family and their servants used every morning for prayers at 9am sharp.  There was a Damask Room, a Hessian Room and Hugo Meynell’s old bedroom and dressing room.  This was where he lived after his riding accident which had left him an invalid.  There was a large wooden board from the window sill to the stone balustrade and he would sit by the window and wait for squirrels and birds to cross the board and eat titbits from his hand – what a charming picture this conjures up albeit in tragic circumstances.  This room became our lounge and the dressing room next door becam...

My Dad Bought a Mansion #1

...g Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors! How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries! There were about 15 basement rooms, some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot, but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where a lot of the male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage cupboards. In the attic a similar number of rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants. Two spiral staircases joined all the floors together, one at...

The Library #69

...ds to the Chapel Hall on the opposite side of the room and was more likely used by servants to enter the room unobtrusively  (see header picture - its to the left of the fireplace in the corner). Christmas Day in the Library   In days gone by many old houses had secret doors and passages, usually for looks as I mentioned, and also for servants to enter rooms unobserved but also for people to get away quickly from a dangerous situation.  Sometimes secret rooms were made, such as priests holes, to hide people from danger and we’ve all heard about smugglers tunnels going from a house or pub to the nearby beach to sneak in contraband or thieves evading t...