




Buttons courtesy Dana Lea's Web Graphics

HOLTON HALL

The tale below were recited to me by Maisy Woolnough who was based with the Land army Girls at Holton Hall in 1947.

Her room was on the first floor of the building, last window on the right. She recalls how the old Orangery -The orangery was located behind the tree* you see in the picture foreground- was used during the period that the Land Army Girls were based there as a boot room, that is a convenient place to leave their muddy boots, rather than to bring them indoors.
. It appears that it also served as a means for the girls to sneak back in if one was late, in order to avoid the need to sign in the late register. Three entries in the late register would result in a posting elsewhere.

* (Authors Note) The cedar tree in the foreground of the picture is still standing today. The picture is taken from what appears to be a popular spot for photos of the hall. This is at the top of some steps through the rockery to the north of what used to be the croquet lawn. I had hoped to do a -before and after- shot from the same location, but unfortunately the view is now obstructed by new trees that have grown up since.

The extract below is from a newspaper article on Holton during the period that the Land Army Girls inhabited the hall:-

....A little further away is Holton
Hall, an ancient country house, noted
in Suffolk in pre-war days for its
tennis tournaments. Here lived the
late Mrs. Easton. During the war an
aerodrome was built at Holton and
Holton Hall was taken over by the
United States Army Air force. Now
it is a Women's Land army hostel and
has become the home of scores of Land
girls. On aerodrome sites near by live
200 people in converted hutments.

During the war Holton airfield was
one of the main bases for air attacks on
Germany. Now the aerodrome is
derelict. Hangars have been converted
into store places and families unable to
find a home are doing their best to
make a temporary one in former billets.
It is to be hoped that before long the
housing drive will gain sufficient
impetus to provide the people with
permanent homes. Until that happy
day dawns many are making the best
of things in this corner of the village
of Holton a village that tries to make
itself and others as "comfortable" as
possible.