House c1966, Longleat
House c1966, Longleat Ref: L190077
Memories of House c1966, Longleat
Sixties Longleat
Many fond memories of Longleat over the last 46 years: the freedom we all enjoyed as villagers to roam across the estate - the sixth Marquess was always very generous in this respect. The remains of the American hospital were still much in evidence then; dad would drive the car to one of the old stone ramps so that he could work underneath it! We'd walk across the park from Corsley before the reserve was built, and when it was finished and the lions introduced, we all worried that one might escape, but to our knowledge, they never did! Mum worked part time for the catering company J.G. Boyes who originally set up a cafe marquee near the house; this later moved to the new cafe/restaurant building that stands today. Dad also got a p/t job driving a Boyes ice cream van based in the park. Other memories include the pop concerts mounted on the front steps of the house including the Rolling Stones I seem to remember, but sadly... Read more
Gamekeeper at Longleat.
Hi Geoff, yes I was on the Longleat Estate in the 1960s, only for three years, I was gamekeeper, on the Corsley side of the Estate. Mr Minter owned the shooting rights over the Estate, with Mr Bill Buckett retained by Lord Bath to manage the deer herd in the park, and the lakes around Longleat House,. I started work at Longleat a few months before the lions arrived. After working for Mr Minter for one year, he decided to let off the Corsley side of the Estate, together with Lower Woods and Rodenbury, to a shooting syndicate, called The Corsley Syndicate. I was taken on as their gamekeeper, our young family lived in Sturford Lane, but after two years of hard work, I realized the large wooded areas of Longleat were more than I could sensibly manage, so I then took a gamekeeper's job on a smaller estate at Codford in the Wylye valley. But I have many happy memories of Longleat.
Longleat & local memories
Read and share memories of Longleat and Wiltshire inspired by Frith photos.
