St Nicholas House

One of the most shocking facts to emerge about World War I was that eight million horses were lost on all sides during the conflict. The plight of those procured from farms all over the UK to be sent to the front line was poignantly illustrated in the book, film and play Warhorse by Michael Morpurgo.

What is less well known is that an accomplished horse breeder, William Porter, established an equine hospital on his farm at The Hollies, now known as St Nicholas House, Deeping St Nicholas. Here he treated horses injured in the war to prevent them from being put down by their owners. William had successfully farmed at Deeping St Nicholas since he bought his young bride to The Hollies in 1905. A Boston lad, the son of Fishtoft farmers of Pickford Towers, William and Harriet, he had met Helen Casswell through mutual friends in Gosberton, where she lived with her parents. Her father had given her away at the wedding, a fine choral service conducted by the Revd J.A. Sykes. There were four bridesmaids, the bride and groom’s sisters and Jessie Davey and Amy Rowell. The groom’s brother Leonard was best man.

William took over the ailing farm in Deeping St Nicholas, the previous owner, Thomas Plowright Holland, having fallen on hard times. During the early years of the twentieth century his possessions had gradually been auctioned off by Mr Kingston, Auctioneer at the White Horse, Spalding; first his 21 horses, then his Alderney cow and calf and then the Hollies itself. But it had not always been this way. The Holland family had been in residence since 1835, John Holland having moved in not long after the red-bricked elegant house was built in 1817. They had been growing their workforce under John and then James, particularly employing grooms and horsemen, and were often seen advertising for more staff in the local papers. Thomas had also been a district agent for the Home Brewery, Daybrook, based in Nottinghamshire, and was a pillar of the community, playing the organ at the parish church for which he was presented with a handsome marble clock in January 1894 as a thank you for his services.

Helped by a legacy of £4,000 when his maiden aunt, Mary Smith of Boston died, William Porter invested heavily in the farm. In 1905 he was selling 24 acres of green peas and the following year advertising for more help on the farm. He continued to recruit, in 1909 seeking two married labourers whose wives must be used to raising poultry. When a reporter from the Lincs Standard and Boston Guardian visited the farm to interview William in October 1912, he was impressed with the young man’s prowess, ‘A stroll around the farm revealed well kept land, a note of tidiness everywhere and of methodical management. In one paddock we came across four superb foals, I should say future prize winners. We then saw a most interesting light railway. It is used for conveying produce from one part of the farm to the other, and for loading and unloading at the siding. A clever and time saving invention, it has an extent of over two miles.’

But as the reporter noted it wasn’t that the soil on the farm was some of the best in Lincolnshire or that the scientific treatment employed produced potatoes and corn more prolifically, or that William was a fourth generation farmer, it was his prowess in breeding Shire horses where he was to make his name. He reported:

‘Mr Porter was kind enough to show me his Shire horses and in the course of conversation he said he had inherited hunters first but it was three years ago he had started breeding Shire horses. He has already done most creditably and there is no doubt he will establish a name for himself among the breeders of this class of horse. Considering it is but three years since Mr Porter commenced, his record is one he can be proud of, for this year he has carried off 51 prizes, half

of which were premier awards. Among the shows where he has been represented are Royal, Ashbourne, Peterborough, Newark, Lincoln County, Spalding, Bourne and Thorney.’

William and Helen had two daughters, Enid in 1907 and Marjorie in 1909, both baptised in Deeping St Nicholas Parish Church. Their attentive father bought his girls a piano and engaged a teacher to help them to play along with his farm steward’s daughter with whom the girls were best friends. A great protagonist of education, William became a manager at Tongue End School. Soon his political ambitions were rewarded when he was elected to the Council, supporting the rural classes in their quest for better housing and in favour of small-holdings, especially if they were affordable to tenants. But he was beginning to tire of Deeping St Nicholas and in 1919 he gave £50 for the West Deeping Roll of Honour and renovation of the reading room there to commemorate those who had made the supreme sacrifice in the War. Shortly afterwards he purchased the Manor and moved to West Deeping. Ahead of his time the Grantham Journal in 1920 reported that William had distributed a share of the profits earned on his farms from June 1919 to April 1920 to over 100 of his workmen. He was known anyway to pay his men more than the standard rate of wages and gave them all a half-acre allotment at a nominal rent. In 1921 William, now a JP, opened the grounds of the Manor at West Deeping for a fete to raise funds for the repair of the church tower and for Stamford Infirmary. The fete was well attended, largely because visitors for miles around were keen to see the beautiful gardens which had recently been laid out. The band of the Royal

Mr and Mrs Porter

Airforce Cranford played and there were stalls of fancy work, sweets, rummage, skittles, guessing competitions, hoop-la, musical chairs on horses (won by Mr G. Vergette of Market Deeping) hurdle races (won by Mr Porter), bowling for pigs and an open-air whist drive concluding with dancing. In 1924 he broke with The Hollies, entirely selling it with Church and Hedge Farms totalling 900 acres to Thomas Richardson, eldest son of Alderman and Mrs Thomas Richardson of East Skirbeck House, Boston.

Newly installed at The Hollies, Thomas Richardson, a 24-year-old farmer, married Frances Tointon, youngest daughter of Mrs Tointon and the late Mr Tointon of The Grange, Pinchbeck, in April 1927 at Pinchbeck Parish Church. The couple settled in for the long term at The Hollies. In 1924 Thomas sold 223 cattle and 122 pigs at auction, maybe in a move from livestock to arable. In April 1939 three tons of once grown Edwards chitted and one ton of Majestic potatoes were sold. Frances meanwhile was seeking help in the house, advertising for a housemaid and a general cook. In 1954 the farm was set up as a limited company. In 1974 one of Thomas Richardson’s employees, Joseph Griffin, was awarded a bar for a 40-year service medal given by the Royal Agricultural Society at the East of England Show. He had worked for the family for half a century, beginning as a groom and gardener and then following his father as farm foreman.

Family run company Free, no obligation design service Supply only or supply with installation Siemens and Neff Master Partner

43-45 Bridge Street, Deeping St James Lincolnshire PE6 8HA Tel: 01778 346415 www.devonportskitchensbathrooms.co.uk

Thomas himself died in October 1994 at the Tanglewood Nursing Home aged 91, leaving £759,732. The house had been sold on his retirement in 1971 when Anna and Brian Prosser moved in. The Prossers had ambitious plans for the house, installing Anna’s widowed mother, Vera Heasman in a self-contained flat at the top in rooms which had been unused for more than 20 years.

In 1986 the Hollies, under new owners, John and Alison Disley, had been renamed St Nicholas House and hosted a member of the Royal Family when Prince Edward visited for lunch. The restaurant was now known for nouvelle cuisine, the last word in culinary excellence at the time and the Prince, aged just 22 and a Cambridge student, was chauffeured to the house with nine other members of the university’s lawn tennis club. Helpfully John Disley was also a member of the Club playing on the same court as the Prince. The menu included smoked salmon, cream of garlic and mushroom soup, roast beef and a choice of sweets: oranges soaked in grenadine, kiwi fruit, fresh cream meringue swans with passion fruit and cream Xavier.

Following the Disleys, Dean Jones bought the house in 1989 and worked to restore the house sympathetically in line with its listed building status. This including re-roofing the house, supporting the walls under the bedroom windows; evidence of their near collapse can be seen in the bowing under the windows today. Many of the floors were replaced and the tiles by the bar were bought specially to reflect the era of the house. The stunning stained glass windows on the stairs were repaired and show the initials DJ and the date that they were restored in 1995. Stone heron thought to be over 100 years old

front door and you’ll be reassured by a warm welcoming and completely relaxed feeling. The vibrant raspberry pink walls in the chandelier lit hall, are friendly and refreshing at once like a flute of champagne. And make it as far as the ladies powder room cum bathroom and you’ll long to stay there in the huge bath of bubbles for hours and hours or at least until it is time to descend refreshed to the restaurant with its unusual plaster ceiling like a trellis entwined by stalks, leaves hanging in clusters and bunches… Even the puddings are called indulgences.’

Now the house is a family home with sympathetic redecoration, providing bed and breakfast in the elegant bedrooms, an upmarket venue for Sunday lunch, afternoon tea on special occasions and a venue for weddings, birthdays and other special events, some of which are staged in the restored gardens. The dramatic setting of the house, standing in open countryside, also provides the perfect venue for the themed murder mystery events staged throughout the year.