The Mystery of the Moated Grange by Angela Brazil

It’s an awkward situation for Mrs Bevan and the teachers who really don’t want the owner of the property looking over their shoulders. The two Bevan girls are enrolled at the school while Mrs Bevan becomes a sort of custodian of the house. Maenan Grange is a moated property in rural Herefordshire and it has just been rented out to a boarding school which has been evacuated to the safety of the countryside.

The upshot of that is that he has inherited an estate from an elderly uncle – if the uncle’s estranged son doesn’t turn up to claim it. Captain Bevan had had a week long leave but he had to spend so much time in London with solicitors that the time had gone so quickly. This is the history of England in one place, extensively researched and written by its current owner.The Mystery of the Moated Grange by Angela Brazil was published in 1942 and World War 2 does feature in it as the tale opens with the Bevan family enjoying a last hour together before Captain Bevan goes off to rejoin his regiment. Some knew times of peace and plenty many lived through famine, riots, plague, religious intolerance and war their family lives reflect the rigours of country living over more than seven centuries. The author discovered that its owners were generally educated people who hovered on the lower fringes of the gentry: they needed to earn their own livings, but made their mark locally and sometimes further afield. She would go on to discover characters ranging from a medieval knight fighting with Henry V, to a Cambridge burgess working with Oliver Cromwell, and a tannery owner and his Victorian feminist daughter.įrom its beginnings as a moated, timber-framed house dominating a fourteenth-century farming community, the property changed radically over the years, and is now a local landmark due to its distinctive architecture. When Elaine Murphy fell in love with the Moated Grange on her first visit, she had no idea that, when she looked into its past, she would find its history had been meticulously documented over the years.

It is a tale that spans 750 years and provides a fascinating social history of rural England. This is the story of one Norfolk house, told through the lives of its owners, occupants and admirers.