WOODLAND WALK | TEMPLE NEWSAM

Hoar Cross Hall has a rich layer of history that spans many centuries. One of the oldest are the standing walls in our Formal Gardens – they stand out as they are a different colour from the other walls. The walls were brought to Hoar Cross Hall from another estate, Temple Newsam. There are many markings and engravings, which remain a mystery to this day.

To find out why they had such significance to the family, we must roll back the clock a few years. In 1782 Hugo Meynell married Elizabeth Ingram Shepheard, daughter and co-heiress of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount Irwin and Lord Ingram.

Temple Newsam in Yorkshire was their family seat and through the marriage, the Meynell family inherited the Ingram estates in Lincolnshire. When the Hall was built in 1871 it was modelled on a wing of the Temple Newsam house, which is why they look so similar.

In 1793, after buying the Hoar Cross estate from the Talbots, Hugo built a house which he used as an occasional hunting lodge. He called it Old Hall and this was built around a small courtyard about half a mile away from where Hoar Cross Hall would later be built. Hugo and Elizabeth had six children and eventually, their grandson, also called Hugo, married the Hon. Emily Charlotte in 1863. Together, they built the present Hoar Cross Hall to be their family home.

Some say these walls were brought over to remind them of the happy times they had at Temple Newsam. They provide another rich layer of intrigue and history to the Hoar Cross Hall story.