the 15th Earl of Huntingdon. In 1923 a wedding was held at Beaumanor which was widely reported in the newspapers. It was the marriage between Dorothy Hastings the cousin of Kathleen and the Queen's nephew Lord Eltham. One newspaper gave the following description of the wedding. "The bride who was given away by her father wore a cream satin dress with a long trail of orange blossom on the left side, long tight fitting sleeves, train of cloth of gold and Brussels lace veil (heirloom of the bridegroom's family). She carried a bouquet of deep cream roses and wore a pearl ribbon with a diamond pendant, the gift of the Queen. "She was attended by two bridesmaids who were attired in powder blue satin, veiled with heavy silver lace, powder blue sleeves and belt of chiffon. They carried arum lilies and wore diamond arrows, the gift of the bridegroom." William and Kathleen held frequent house parties at Beaumanor and one of them hosted in 1926 is shown in the photograph. Until just preceding the Second World War in 1939, the Herrick family owned the park. The estate consisted of Beaumanor Hall and 6,500 acres of land, including several farms, Beacon Hill, the Hangingstone Rocks, St Mary's in the Elms church, the vicarage house (Garats Hay), workers houses/cottages along Forest Road and 350 acres (1.4 km²) of parkland. In 1939 the War Office requisitioned the estate, including Garats Hay, and the vicar moved to a cottage in the village. The park became a secret listening station where encrypted enemy signals (Morse code) were intercepted and sent to the famous Station X at Bletchley Park (by motorcycle every day) for decoding. Beaumanor Park was to be the home of the War Office ‘Y’ Group for the duration of the war. After the war (1945) the estate passed back to the Herrick family, and on the death of William Montague Curzon-Herrick, the Beaumanor estate passed to Lt. Col. Assheton Penn Curzon Howe Herrick, who in 1946, for financial reasons (death duties, etc.), decided to dispose of his assets. In a sale conducted at the Town Hall in Loughborough on 20–21 December 1946, the War Office bought both Beaumanor Hall and Garats Hay and some of the immediate surrounding grounds used during the war. Beaumanor Hall history 1939–1970 From 1939 the hall itself was occupied by Number 6 Intelligence school, and the rooms inside