SHEFFIELD PARK HOUSE

The following relates to the time Sheffield Park House was owned by  Mr and Mrs Soames. 
The article has been written by  Eileen who tells us that she went to work for Mr and Mrs Soames 
when she was 15, which  was January 1950.

“ I worked as the kitchen maid, and there was the cook and myself in the kitchen. In the other part of the house there was the Head House Keeper.  Edith and Brenice Burrows were  the two house maids. Then there was the butler and a young lad who worked under him, a valet, and I think a lady-in-waiting to see to
Mrs Soames’ needs etc.

A  man come in daily to gather  all the firewood , logs etc. together with coal and anything else that needed to be done.  Work started at 6.45 am  preparing breakfast for staff and then for Mr and Mrs Soames.  My day usually finished at 10.30 pm.

The type of food they ate were  game birds which were left to hang in the wooden hut to get a bit high.  The game also included pheasants, partridge and grouse.

Fish, chicken, ducks, were eaten and pigs heads used to make brawn.    The dogs ate rabbits which I had to skin and cook.   All the vegetables were as we eat today,  but all home grown.  We did not mix with each  other very much.  Afternoons were free and I had one  day off a week.

There was a big kitchen, a scullery  and one small larder and one big larder.  The floors were all flag stone, like brown stone tiles, which I had to scrub on my hands and knees every day.

The servants’ bedrooms were not all that big,  just room for a single bed, a chest of drawers, and a wardrobe, but the view from my bedroom was so beautiful.  It looked up to the trees where the ground was covered with bluebells.

I can’t say much about the part of the house where Mr and Mrs Soames lived because I was not allowed in that wing of the property, but I did see the Blue Room where way back a Prince used to stay, it was a beautiful room.  There were lots of cellars under the big house.

For me it was so nice being  there. - walking in the garden, seeing the lakes and the shrubs, and all the little baby rabbits.  It was always a dream of mine to be able to go back and go into the house to see it all again.  What can I say about the gardens? - it was so beautiful,  it was like being in heaven, and you could walk about for hours. 

There was a lake near the house end of the gardens where they kept a punt, [that’s a boat where you had to use a pole to move it], but we were not supposed to use it because a boy and girl went on it and the girl drowned.

There were rumours of  the spirit of a “grey”  lady who used to walk and roam  the house. I saw a ghost or spirit dressed in a misty white gown who walked straight through the wall.  I believe there was supposed to be a tunnel from Sheffield Park House that went under the lake and came out somewhere by Randles House.  I don’t know if the was true, that’s what I was told.

In a way it was a bit like “Upstairs, Downstairs,” only as I said we didn’t mix with each other except for meals.  Brenice and I spent time together but again not a lot. 

I can remember being told the first cricket matches were played in the park and that the Canadian soldiers had Nissan huts in the ground and tanks  which were at the Fletching end of Sheffield  park.”

As told to Debbie Bradford by her aunt.
Photos courtesy of Geoff Isted, Hylda Rawlings and Peter Richardson.

The above description is courtesy of the Sheffield Park Archives,  and thanks to everyone for their help.

Article kindly submitted by Jill Rolfe