Jan Hunter talks to Lord Crathorne about the horrors of seeing his childhood home go up in flames

ON October 1 last year, at ten in the morning, James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne, looked out from the Tower Room in his house to see a fire engine making its way towards his childhood home, Crathorne Hall.

Thinking it would be a false alarm, he arranged to take his two American guests for a tour of his former home, but they came upon a road block. The party was informed that there was a fire in the hall.

“It was heart-rending,” said Lord Crathorne. “I saw flames twice the size of the house leaping into the air, and I didn’t want to watch my old home burn down, or get in the way of the firefighters, so I suggested we went to Whitby.

“I knew there was nothing I could do.”

Eighteen firecrews consisting of 100 firefighters from across the North-East performed a brilliantly co-ordinated operation to save the hall. They came across several firewalls in the roof space, which enabled them to contain the fire to just one wing, and not a single person was hurt.

A year later, the wing was refurbished, and opened once again to the public.

“It is very beautiful,” he said. “The County Suite is where the old kitchen used to be and it is now a wonderful room in which to have a party. The only good side effect from all this is that you can make improvements when you rebuild, and this has certainly happened.”

Lord Crathorne and his family moved out of the hall after his father died in 1977. A house with 115 rooms for just himself, his wife, Sylvia, and their baby wasn’t practical, so they moved to nearby Crathorne House, which had originally been built by Lord Alexander Fleck, the chairman of ICI. Lord Crathorne’s mother, Nancy, Lady Crathorne, a talented painter and patron of the arts, had suggested to Lord Fleck over Sunday lunch one day that he build a house in the grounds to retire to, and the family would have the first option to buy it back, which they did on his death.

“There was no question of us staying in the hall,” explained Lord Crathorne. “My father’s wish was to die at home, surrounded by his family, which is what happened. The hall is designed for entertaining on a large scale and it has made a perfect country house hotel. The servants’ rooms were knocked together to make spacious rooms with en suite bathrooms. There were 45 bedrooms when I lived there, and now there are 37.”

By contrast, Crathorne House has three interlinking reception rooms which mirror the hall, but on a much smaller scale. Lord Crathorne is a renowned photographer, and photographs and paintings cover the walls – and even some of the doors in the kitchen. Two of the most striking are a beautiful photograph of Sylvia taken by him in Scotland, and among the many photographs on the piano is one of his beloved Nanny Messenger carrying him as a baby in her arms.

“My childhood memories are about people,” he said. “There were so many wonderful characters. They were the great stars of my life. When I watch Downton Abbey, I am reminded of our butler, who was so like Carson, and Mrs Patmore the Cook is certainly the same figure as Mrs Davidson.”

For someone whose achievements run into two pages in Wikipedia, he is a remarkably modest man. One of his proudest moments was when he became Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire where he arranged 192 royal visits in his 15-and-a-half years in office. A Lord Lieutenant’s role is to “uphold the dignity of the Crown”, and in 2013 he was awarded the KCVO (Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order) which is entirely in the Queen’s gift – as she presented it to him, the Queen told him that it gave her great pleasure.

The saddest event he experienced was the loss of his beloved Sylvia in 2009, but he feels his time with her was a 40-year gift which has left him with very happy memories.

“I still enjoy working many hours a day,” he said, "and I am organising lots of family things, which have been put on one side during the lieutenancy. This includes sorting my mother’s papers with the help of an archivist. At Westminster, I am co-chairman of the All Party Arts and Heritage Group, and secretary of the All Party Photography Group.”

In his university days, he was a member of the Cambridge Footlights, and was John Cleese’s best man at his wedding to Connie Booth. He is still a passionate patron of the arts and heritage, and also a keen jazz drummer.

Judy Kitching has persuaded him to play at her 30th Cornshed Charity Festival, at Hutton Rudby, next year, and he is keen to take part. The dates of June 24 and 25 may just be worth putting in the diary.