E[ISODE 492 DOWNTON ABBY —DEMOLITION OF EYWOOD COURT 1955
alan skeoch
Dec. 25, 2021
Eywood Court, a country estate in Herefordshire , was demolished in 1955 along with dozens of
other grand estates. Let me tell you the story. Coming
Sorry, my stories are little slower in coming because of Christmas,
Covid 19 (friends now have the disease…getting closer), need
to research, few pictures so had to hun hard to get them.
DOWNTON ABBY…MARJORIE AND I HAVE BEEN WATCHING TWO EPISODES A DAY
Some readers will also be watching Downton Abby on Netflix. I hope
everyone starts looking at the series on Netflix…much longer
and richer content. We have a personal connection to the
ruthless demolition of English Country Estates in the 20th century. My
grandfather, Edward Freeman, was head gardener at Eywood
Court, a huge country house estate much like Downton Abby.
Yes, granddad was ‘in service’ holding a very responsible job
managing two large high brick walled gardens. Earlier he had
been a gardener at Windsor Castle so he was quite familiar with
the British class system. He tipped his hat when necessary.
And our farm house in Canada was decorated with pictures of
Eywood Court and many of the service people who worked there.
Mom’s godmother was the cook at Eywood. I hope she was similar
to Mrs. Patmore at Downton. Granddad made no apologies…proud to be
head gardener … never indicated he resented Eywood. I think it
was mom that mentioned the tipping of the hat indication of inferior status.
Not granddad.
My next effort will be to recreate in words and pictures Eywood Court before it
was demolished in 1955 along with dozens and dozens of other
country estates. That will take some time…but will come soon.
If sex interest you, there is a wonderful story about Lord Byron
and the lady of Eywood whose husband walked around the
1500 acre estate while Lord Byron was ‘active’ with his
wife. All documented.
alan