Manor House

Scolton is not a grand house in the league of British statley homes. Nor did its owners, the ancient Higgon family, strive for recognition beyond their native country. Far from making Scolton a less interesting place, it opens our eyes in fact to an historic way of life much less often set on display.

At Scolton we can learn about the lifestyle of one of the far more typical local gentry fames who involved themselves on a day to day basis not with Empire building but with affairs of their country.

In Victorian times, the Higgons themselves held sway only over their modest ancestral estate and (by and large) their home parish of Spittal, there being no other resident landowners of note in that area. As chief employers, needing house servants, gardeners, coachmen and handymen, they provided jobs, stability and security. Such was the pattern repeated across the country.

Educated and cultured though they were, the Higgons simply did not have the means to isolate themselves from everyday life around them. The servants' rooms at Scolton are not hidden down some distant passage but are cheek by jowl with the family's own principal rooms. So in the short compass of the tour around the interior, we see the whole society of the country house revolving around the hall.