Hemploe Hall was originally built in 1868.Located in the Northampton village of Welford, it was a substantial estate totalling some 123 acres in all, encompassing two farm cottages and farm buildings together with a lodge.

In the 1881 census, the master was not in residence, but the building was occupied by Joseph Jays, the gardener and gamekeeper, his wife Elizabeth who was the housekeeper and their two children Lilian, 12 and Helen, 9.

The lodge was occupied by John Garrett, a farmer of 252 acres employing 6 men and a boy and his sistser Sarah, a housekeeper, the other half being occupied by Samuel Freeman, a labourer, his wife Jane, and their 7 children. They had a boarder Joseph Mathews, a 20 year old farm hand

I am unclear as to when my grandfather, Arthur Edwin Crane, acquired the house, bit I believe it was around the end of the First World War. Arthur had made considerable sums from selling boots to the armed forces. He acquired the house as his country retreat and as a status symbol befitting his position as a wealthy businessman.

The weekend house parties were apparently legendary. One late member of my family was heard to describe the place as ‘an upper class knocking shop’. The booze certainly used to flow prodigiously.

On occasions the house was used as a meeting point for the Pytchley Hunt, the estate containing a number of first class fox coverts. One of my relatives remembers as a young girl carrying trays of sherry out to the assembled huntsmen.

After Arthur lost his business in 1922, he attempted to convert the house into a country house hotel, the brochure for which is shown at the head of this page. This appears only to have delayed the inevitable as the venture was not a great success.

In 1927, he placed the house on the market. The auction brochure is reproduced above. If you look carefully, you can see on the cover the handwritten note ‘£6,400 N.S.’ which we think means that the property failed to sell. I am not sure whether this reflects the best bid or the reserve price.

I never saw the house, but it has been described as having ‘a long approach with the drive giving way to a big semicircle in front of the house where the cars turned and the hunt used to meet’

The house was sold again in 1938 when it was owned by a Major Pomeroy. In June 1940 it was used as a temporary billet for the 4th Queens Own Hussars. The records show :

June 1940 CO: Lt Col EGG Lillingston
Jun 40 4th Queens Own Hussars.
23rd - Final recce of area and selection of billets. RHQ and HQ Sqn HUSBANDS BOSWORTH, A Sqn The HEMPLOE, near WELFORD, B Sqn WELFORD GRANGE, C Sqn WELFORD village.

During the war, the local residents would gather in the grounds at night and watch the pyrotechnics as the Luftwaffe bomber Coventry.

As a boy, I remember using the crested cutlery from the house, which then belonged to my parents.

The house fell into disrepair and was finally demolished in 1974, a new house being built on the site in 1976. The owner, to whom I am indebted for the documents shown above, informs me that the old foundation stone has been incorporated into the new building.