August 2024

14 Buckden Roundabout August 2024 Lucy Boston & the Manor House Lucy Boston and the Manor House A group of fourteen History Society members visited The Manor House, Hemingford on the 3rd of July 2024. They were shown around the house by Diana Boston, daughter - in - law of Lucy Boston who owned the house from 1939 until her death in 1990. Diana keeps the gardens open all year round and welcomes visitors into the house by appointment. The original Manor House was constructed around 1130 of Barnack limestone (the same stone as used for St Mary ’ s Church in Buckden), which came from quarries near Stamford. Originally an annex to the great hall, the current building may have been used as a chamber to entertain guests. It was surrounded by a moat which lay between the house and the River Ouse. The Norman heart of the house had been largely masked by later additions and a Georgian facade. Lucy was born in Southport, Lancashire on 10th of December 1892 into a middle - class family. Her father died when she was just six years old but had left money for the children ’ s education. She was sent to finishing school in Paris then went on to study English at Somerville College, Oxford. At the outbreak of the First World War, she left col- lege and trained to be a nurse later working in a military hospital in France. In 1917 she married Harold Boston and soon after bore a son, Peter (who went on to become and architect and illustrator of Lucy ’ s books). The marriage failed in 1935 so she went off to Europe to study music. It is said that Lucy Boston first saw the Manor at Heming- ford Grey from a punt on the Great Ouse. It made such a deep impression upon her that she often returned to the thought of it over the coming years. It was only decades later, when she had returned to England after it looked as if war was going to break out, that she had the chance to see the house again. Having taken a flat in Cambridge in order to house hunt, Lucy was told by a friend that there was a place in Hemingford for sale. She jumped in a taxi and knocked on the door of The Manor. The owners, who had only discussed selling the house over breakfast, were astonished and obviously very pleased to secure such a quick sale. In May 1939, she moved in, having paid £2,500 for the property. When she arrived at Hemingford Grey, as World War II was breaking out, Lancashire - born Lucy was a single woman, fluent in German, who had not long before been stud- ying music and painting in Vienna. Unsurprisingly, the locals viewed this newcomer with suspicion, es- pecially as she seemed intent on taking the Manor back in time ra- ther than bringing it up to date, as most people wanted to do with their homes. Lucy was even report- ed as a spy, with government offi- cials sent to Hemingford Grey to snoop around. Of course, she had no such links to Hitler, instead using her previous experience as a nurse and her privileged position as the owner of an enchanting house to offer sanctuary to victims of war. The painting by Elizabeth Vellacott, displayed in the house, shows a lady at the window, a reference to the suspicion cast on Lucy at the time. A music lover, Lucy had noticed the soothing effects of playing records to patients in war hospitals some decades before and, with that in mind, set up twice weekly music evenings at the Manor. These were well attended by the airmen posted nearby, many from as far afield as America and sorely missing their homelands. Grabbing what seating she could (including a mattress and the back seat of her car), she ar- ranged them around the EMG gramophone in the ancient heart of the house, a setup that remains today. There is a painting by Elisa- beth Vellacott of one of these war- time recitals, which is still on dis- play in the main bedroom of the house. In the painting uniformed men sit hunched over, their backs to the viewer, enraptured by the music. Murals by Vellacott, a close friend of Lucy's and a frequent guest at the Manor, are found throughout the house. Living in such atmospheric surroundings at the Manor, Lucy who had cut off her studies at English at the University of Oxford to volunteer as a nurse in 1915, felt the urge to pick up her pen. And so, in her 60s, she began to write what would become the celebrated series of Green Knowe stories. Illustrated by her son, Peter, the books became some of the best loved children's novels of the 20th century. They begin with a small boy, Tolly, arriving by boat at a magical old house by the name of Green Knowe, a fictionalised version of her own home. Today, visiting fans revel in spotting details such as the rocking horse, the birdcage and the mouse that appear in the novels. Fabric was hard to come by in the postwar period. She used old quilted bedspreads as curtains to keep out the cold. Soon she began to make her own patchwork bedspreads using all the fabrics available to her including dishcloths. She cut the patterned fabrics expertly to make her designs in such a way that the same fab- ric would look completely different in each of the blocks it was used in. Lucy completed around twenty quilts in her lifetime, many of which are in the house and can be seen today. One of them in particu- lar is especially admired. The so - called “ Patchwork of the Crosses ”, a complex and elegant creation which has become a much - copied classic over the years. Each patchwork quilt was hand stitched using a traditional paper piecing method which took many hours of work. Lucy would stitch and write in the winter and tend her garden in the summer. When Lucy first took over The Manor, the garden was little more than two fields. She set about planting it with trees and shrubs and later planted eight yew bushes on either side of the path to the river. As they grew bigger she clipped them into crowns, orbs and the dove of peace from an old sceptre to represent the Queen's corona- tion. After the war she started to garden in earnest collecting old ros- es and irises with the help and advice of Graham Stuart Thomas. (Continued on page 15)