Shelford Hall fire
Little Shelford New Hall was destroyed by fire on February 24 1929.
The fire, believed to have originated in the pantry, gutted the entire building. The roof caved in and there was little chance to retrieve any of the contents.
There were 9 people in the Hall at the time of the fire according to press reports. None of them were believed to be injured. The Cambridge Chronicle suggests they were Captain and Mrs Gordon Dill and their children, Mme Carne, who was the Governess, the butler and the maid.
Mrs Eaden (seen in photo 5 below) was also said to be living there at the time of the blaze although the Hall was part-owned at the time by Fanny Wale.
Remains of the building can still be seen from Whittlesford Road and the Little Shelford Recreation Ground.
This is how the Cambridge News reported the fire:
"A disastrous fire occurred at the Hall, Little Shelford in the early hours of Sunday with the result that the building was almost completely gutted. It was discovered by Mme Carne, the governess who, with the butler and the maid, were immediately above the fire. Captain and Mrs Gordon Dill removed their children to safety in The Lodge. While waiting for the fire brigade which was delayed due to the thick fog, the occupants attempted to subdue the outbreak, then confined to the pantry, with buckets of water. But the heat melted a lead pipe and the cistern emptied so water had to be fetched from a cottage about 30 yards away. The building is 71 years old, being erected in the grounds of the Old Hall which was pulled down in 1858." (Scroll down for more photos of the fire aftermath)
These are John Altham's recollections of the blaze in a note written in 1982 (he grew up in the Hall but was not living there at the time of the Fire).
"Some cousins borrowed the hall for the winter when we were living in my aunt's house in Cambridge.
"They had a butler who left sticks to dry in the pantry one night and in the middle of that foggy night, the house caught fire and the Cambridge fire engine could not find the house until it was fully alight.
"Then they had no water until they laid pipes to the river. Alas only a little furniture and some pictures were saved by Mr Thorogood (the Chauffeur and gardener) and many others who were alerted, and who worked all night among the smoke and flames. Nothing was saved from the nurseries, sadly for my sister and me.
"The house was mortgaged so could not be rebuilt but an addition was built onto the front of the Lodge; thus the Lodge became once again the family home, because it had been half pulled down when the hall was built."
