McLaughlin Family Seat

THE LYDIATES, in Woofferton, near Brimfield, used to be our family seat. The Lydiates was formerly owned by John Rose Hall and his wife Ellen. In 1857 Anne Bromilow, Ellen's daughter by her first husband, was married to my great-grandfather, Major-General Edward McLaughlin, a first lieutenant at the time.

The Lydiates was immediately listed as our family seat in Burke's Landed Gentry. However, after John's death in 1858, Ellen, a cook and a maid were the only occupants. Ellen was looking after her 12-year-old grandson Edward Crofton McLaughlin while his parents were away in 1871. For the last decade of her life, Ellen, who died aged 85, was all by herself in the house. And in 1901 The Lydiates was empty.

The Lydiates boasted two main entrances, both pedimented. The North front is pictured above. The South front, which faces a street named Wyson Lane, is shown on the right. It was built of brick with a tile roof early in the 18th century. The dormer lighting the attic is a 20th century addition.

The North range of stuccoed brick with a hipped slate roof was added in the early 19th century. It has a stone porch with a pair of Ionic columns and walls thickened to imitate Doric pilasters. This portal gives onto a half-mile-long private drive which used, most conveniently, to lead straight to Woofferton Railway Station on the Hereford to Shrewsbury line, operated jointly by the London and North Western (later LMS) and Great Western railways. In 1961 the station was closed, 100 years to the day after the opening of a branch line to Tenbury Wells.

Woofferton has a Shropshire post code. However the village straddles the county border, so the estate was actually located in Herefordshire.   It is named Lydiate Bank on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map which appears when you roll your mouse over the satellite image below. Clearly, the layout of streets and fields has changed little during more than a century.

The Lydiates estate had 160 acres of land, including a 135-acre farm leased to John Brown, farmer and hop grower. Stands of hops are doubtless represented by the rows of little circles on the map, published only ten years after hop cultivation reached its peak in England.

When Annie died in 1911 Edward sold the entire estate to Cyril Bowkett, a farmer. His grandson, Nicholas Hyde, and great-grandson, Andrew, still continue to farm their family's holdings, now increased to 1,400 acres.

The house was quickly resold to become a school for girls and was given its present name, Woofferton Grange. It is now partitioned into two.   The South part facing the street has been made into flats, while the white stuccoed rear is a single residence which preserves its grand character with rooms so big that they have a faint echo.

In the upper left corner of the satellite image is Woofferton Transmitting Station. Its multitudinous antennas beam around the earth on short wave about 20 broadcasting services, including the BBC World Service, the Voice of America, and Adventist World Radio. Built by the BBC during World War II, the station is now owned by VT Merlin Communications.

The Lydiates was a short carriage ride away from the homes of the general's father Hubert at Boraston, of his eldest son Crofton at Burford, and of his brother Alfred at Ludlow, as shown on this interactive map.


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© 2006 G. Harry McLaughlin.
Reproduction or transmission, in whole or in part, for other than personal use is prohibited without advance permission from Dr. G. H. McLaughlin.