We don’t yet have a full history of the Manor House and grounds – if you can help with this we would be grateful to hear from you. Similarly, the manorial rights for Hickling are complicated and research is ongoing.

The Manor isn’t mentioned in the Protestation Returns of 1642; however, this isn’t indicative as locations are only given to avoid confusion between branches of the same family. Ongoing work transcribing the Schedules attached to the 1776 Enclosure Map may produce relevant information, in due course.

• Note: The Marshall family have been placed at The Manor through the mid- to late-1800s; in the 1871 census their household is located at Hall yard House – confirmation is needed but this may offer a clue to the background of the Manor and the site.

“The Horseman; Memoirs of JH Marshall”

The memoirs of John Howard Marshall (known as Howard) were published in 1970 and whilst they are completely focused on his life with horses, they do include details about the family and some wonderful descriptions of individuals and places in Hickling during his childhood – he was born in 1889 and grew up in The Manor, the family sold the Estate in 1915.

Hickling extracts can be found by clicking the book cover thumbnail:

• He describes his parents as ‘handsome and headstrong’.
• Several anecdotes build a colourful picture of his parents and the household (including descriptions of the inside of the house).
• There are frequent references to his two older brothers and we are told something of their characters but nothing about his sisters or younger siblings (except in general terms and in passing – for example, when he is driving them somewhere in his pony cart when the pony or donkey is named but his sisters are not).
• Long sections of the book record agricultural shows, point-to-points and hunting in the area.
• His writing reveals a deep love of Hickling and the surrounding countryside and a genuine sense of loss when the family connection with the village is lost.

Copies of his memoirs are often available second hand; Abe Books is a useful online platform for second hand booksellers.

We are looking for help with transcribing and indexing the Hickling sections of these memoirs (so that links can be put in place for anecdotes referring to other families and houses in Hickling at the time); please contact us if you can help.

From the Wadkin Archives:

Scrapbook of Hickling:

The Manor House.

January 1897 To be sold by auction at ‘The Wheel Inn ‘ on 18th January 1897 at three for four o’clock. The Manor House, Home Farm and Premises occupied by Mr. Samuel Marshall. Grass land in Clawson Lane in lots also about 240 acres of land occupied by Mr. Marshall and others lying between Green Lane and the road leading to Widmerpool, also the Farmhouse and premises occupied by Mr. White the top of the Manor Drive). The Manor House was sold for £1,040, land known as Thumberers made £27 per acre.

In 1904 the farmhouse (now known as ‘The Ruins’ owned and occupied by Mr. And Mrs. J. Barnes) occupied by Mr. White was sold off from The Manor for £225. The Manor House belonged to Mr. Samuel Marshall who shot himself in 1915.

(the details and extent of this sale is unclear: the Marshall family continued to live at The Manor House until it was sold in 1915 following Samuel Marshall’s death)

Maggie’s Memories:

“The Manor House. At one time it was a farm house and then parts added until at the present time. My first recollection is of the beautiful peacocks on the wall of the Manor drive. The Marshall family lived there at the time and I remember we children standing by the Dovecote field at the top of the drive watching the funeral procession of Mr sam Marshall who had committed suicide. Then remember little, only the names of different owners. I know before the 1914-18 War the Manor House itself could not be seen for lovely trees and during the War nearly every tree was sawn down, expect for the war effort. Then on New Year’s Eve 1959 on a pouring wet morning I answered a knock at my back door, and a tall man with a black plastic mac and no hat stood there and said he was Patrick Radford of the Manor House and someone had told him I might be able to help his wife out in the house. I was flabbergasted, anyway I went to see Mrs Radford on Jan 3^rd 1960 and started helping and stayed with them until they moved to Langford Haall, Newark on March 26^th 1971. The new owner Mrs Wood asked me if I would continue helping her but only twice weekly and this I did from July 12^th 1971 until October 29^th 1973 when through illness I was forced to give up work. I spent eleven happy years with the Radford family, when I first went, Nicholas was three and Jonathan six months, then along came Timothy and the youngest Anthony. Mr and Mrs Radford had each married and divorced and had daughters, Mrs Radford, Anthea and Mr Radford, Carol.Each Monday Nannie had her day off and I took over, took the children out walking, put them down to rest while I ironed, gave them lunch, walk during afternoon, repared and gave them tea, bathed the little so and so’s put them to bed with reading a story. I missed them all very much when they moved, actually I could write a book on the happenings at the Manor during those eleven years. Mr & Mrs Radford absolutely turned the house upside down, and inside out, added bedrooms etc and made everything so luxurious. Mrs Wood when she arrived added new stables, being a horse woman, and recently has added a ‘cattery’ for boarding cats (what next).”