Ticknall Preservation and Historical Society is “UP AND RUNNING AGAIN”. Our first meeting was on Wednesday, 22 September 2021 when we visited the historic Melbourne Hall Gardens. It was a beautiful late Summer day and 29 members joined in the visit.
Historian – and Melbourne Hall archivist – Philip Heath guided members on a tour of the gardens and traced the fascinating history of the development of the gardens from the 1600s to the present day. Philip’s tour was comprehensive, lively, informative and humorous. His extensive knowledge of the history of the Melbourne property and of the wider historical context brought the story to life. He explained that central to the story of Melbourne Hall is the fact that Melbourne Hall was never a manor house having been first built in the 12th or 13th centuries to provide a rectory house for successive Bishops of Carlisle, who used Melbourne parish church as a substitute cathedral when the Scottish borderlands were turbulent and unsafe.
The tour lasted 90 minutes and we enjoyed the sunshine for the whole of the visit.
After our tour, Philip invited us to his house in Melbourne where his wife had prepared a splendid afternoon tea which was thoroughly enjoyed by those able to be there, sitting in the sunshine in the garden and socialising.
- Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 26 October when we have a tour of Staunton Harold Church with Betty Cawte. The meeting time is 2.00 pm at the Church.