The Mount – Happy Memories

The Mount during redevlopment

The Mount as it stands today

As 2014 begins The Mount has shed it’s sadly vacant look , having stood empty for  the last three years. After so much wet weather the main building was beginning to look very sorry for itself. Fortunately any further dilapidation has been halted by the developers stepping in. Under the skilful hands of builders we hope to see The Mount re-emerge newly bright, ready to face the demands of 21st century living; providing attractive, comfortable homes for a new generation ready to enjoy life tucked into this lovely spot on the edge of Clent Hill.

The Mount Hotel before the fire

The Mount Hotel before the fire

In it’s more recent years The Mount was run as a hotel. Some of us remember staying at the hotel during the period of our moving into the village and of loving the view from those enormous  bay windows. Local groups can recall Christmas meals and various other celebrations at the hotel. On Saturdays it was a delight to see the wedding cars threading their way along Mount Lane towards the hotel and to see guests tottering from the Adam’s Hill car parks  in their fine outfits and smart shoes.

The hotel gardens were steadily improved by the cutting back of unruly growth and by the planting of flowers and shrubs around the entrance. The heated sloping drive up to the hotel was a bonus in the winter allowing cars in and out of the hotel in most weathers and also helping to keep that part of the lane clear for the rest of us to walk and drive through.

After being taken over by its new owners who had worked hard to improve both the site and the business it was so disappointing when, after a fire in the hotel kitchen, which was put out (all guests were safely escorted outside), a long dispute followed between the owner and the insurance company and the building, which had been a busy, lived in place for so many years, was left unused.

It will be good to get the building lived in again. The later additions to the main building have been demolished and new flats will take their place. A couple of houses are planned for the site too but the tower will remain externally much as it was and will continue to be visible from the Kidderminster approaches to Clent.

THE MOUNT SCHOOL

From the early 1900s until just after World War 1 the Mount was a distinguished Ladies College. (see references in several of our books and publications)

A former member of both Clent WI and Clent History Society – Mildred Usherwood  –  wrote an article  some time before 1998 when it appeared as an article in The Clent Clarion.

The article is reproduced in part, under Mildred’s title.

Happy Memories of Clent.

In the 1920s THE MOUNT SCHOOL was a preparatory school for boys. and my husband and his brothers were pupils there. The dormitories were on the top two floors, and they used to have nightmares about fire risks as there were no fire drills or escape routes.

Before breakfast they had to run up to the Four Stones – *Not the well known Italian restaurant on Adams  Hill but the standing stones at the highest point of the hill – a test of stamina even for the fittest! Breakfast, when they returned was a bowl of porridge.

Food at the school was very meagre, but my husband was very friendly with the son of a local fishmonger who used to send a good supply each week for his son,. after the headmaster had chosen the best pieces the boy was able to distribute the rest to his special friends.

The Mount, former Hotel

The Mount, former Hotel

In summer they played cricket, but it’s difficult to see where they would find a large enough flat area for a pitch!

There were visiting days for parents and the boys were taken to The Woodman [now The French Hen] for tea. This was usually boiled eggs and for a special treat, cake.

On the way back up to school they walked along Woodman Lane passing by the ‘old bakery’ from which lots of lovely smells floated out and happily a supply of buns and doughnuts would be bought for them….

A few years after my husband left, the school moved to Kidderminster.

During the 1920s, when we were small, my older sister and I loved Clent and so we came by several buses to The Woodman and walked up to Vine Lane; carrying our cases, to The Glen which was a guest house then. I became very friendly with the host’s daughter. We met up again years later when I had come to live in Clent and didn’t recognise each other for quite a while.

When I came to live in Clent in 1958 The Mount had by then been converted into small flats.

In the early days of living here there were six shops in the centre of the village. It is sad that they have all closed.

I hope Clent will continue to be a pleasant and unspoilt village and that the authorities will not allow excessive building as is happening in Hagley.

***************************

Comments are closed.