A place on Memory Lane for faithful servants of Hagley Hall

The likes of gamekeeper George Creed, "butler" "Jamie" James, housekeeper Jenny Price, chauffeur Billy Bennett and "eccentric man-about-the-house" Dicky Dyas are legends at Hagley Hall.

An old photograph showing many of the old retainers at Hagley Hall with the 10th Viscount Cobham (centre front row) and John Lyttelton (behind Viscount Cobham), brother of the present Lord Cobham, who was the 11th viscount.

Some are long gone, while others still have links with the Palladian mansion and its noble owner, Viscount Cobham.

All will live on in a trip down Memory Lane in the form of road names at the nearby Cala Homes Wychbury Fields scheme, built on land previously owned by Hagley Hall estate on fields next to the junction of the A456 Kidderminster to Birmingham Road and the A491 motorway feeder road.

The 12th Viscount Cobham - 68-year-old Chris Lyttelton - grew up with them and, when asked for suggestions for street names, he put forward some of the "Upstairs Downstairs" characters who populated his formative years at his ancestral home.

"Hagley Hall exists because of people who have devoted lifetimes to it," said Lord Cobham, previously a financial consultant in London, who took over the running of the estate following the death of his older brother, John, in 2006.

"It seemed to be a happy idea to commemorate a lot of the people who have committed their lives to the place by having their names on the streets of the new development."

Signs erected so far include Bennett Drive, Price Close, Creed Close and Dugdale Close and others likely to feature are include the names Dwyer, Dyas, Reitenbach, Frith and Maurice.

Lord Cobham was brought up at Hagley Hall with his seven brothers and sisters until he was eight, when they moved to New Zealand, where his father, Charles Lyttelton - the 10th Viscount Cobham - had been appointed Governor General.

The family returned to Hagley when the present Lord Cobham was 13 and he attended Eton school.

He has been recalling anecdotes about  just a few of the staff who helped his family with the mammoth task of running the house and its 1,000-acre estate over the last decades:

* BILLY BENNETT, who drove tanks in the First World War, was chauffeur to Lord Cobham's late father and grandfather. In the 1930s they had a "newish" car with an oil pressure gauge, which was showing zero. Mr Bennett's answer to this was to tap it, decide it was a  "newfangled" gadget that did not work - and carry on driving until the car seized up. Mr Bennett died in the 1960s.

Billy Bennett, who was chauffeur to Lord Cobham's late father and grandfather, and Bennett Drive, named after him.

*ERIC "DICKY" DYAS, is described as the "man about house". In the words of Lord Cobham "eccentric is probably a mild understatement". On one occasion he told Lord Cobham's father he had "lost" his breakfast before his boss went out on a shooting trip. The breakfast was later found in the fridge, where Dyas had misplaced it while getting out some milk. On another occasion he was serving at a charity function where the late Princess Grace of Monaco was guest during the 1980s - and was under orders to get nothing wrong "on pain of death". He was fine until it came to pouring a glass of claret for the royal visitor. "He started tipping - and his face went through every emotion known to man when he realised he had not taken the cork out," said Lord Cobham.

*GEORGE CREED was gamekeeper and a "huge friend" of Lord Cobham's father until his death when the present Viscount Cobham was a child. "I remember him giving me a ride on his motor bike - it is the only time I have ever ridden on one and I was sitting on his petrol tank," said Lord Cobham. "He left his widow, Ruth Creed, living on the estate - she was a lovely person and used to sell the eggs from the chickens on our farm."

Creed Close with Ruth Creed, who used to sell the chicken eggs produced at Hagley Hall, next to the 10th Viscount Cobham, father of the present owner of the stately home.

*THE PRICE FAMILY - three generations have worked at Hagley Hall, starting with gardener Willie Price and his wife Julia, who did the laundry. Their daughter, Jenny, whose married name was Crumpton, and granddaughter, Susie Wilkins, have both been housekeepers there. Mrs Wilkins, who still works there after 25 years, said: "My grandparents were here in 1925, when there was a blaze, started when someone banked up a fire too high, causing a beam to smoulder, which destroyed a big chunk of the house. The top floor was only put back on to the hall seven years ago." She added: "I feel very honoured to have a street named after us."

Julia Price (centre), who worked in the laundry at Hagley Hall and whose husband, Willie, was gardener.

*MIKE DUGDALE is the husband of Lord Cobham's sister, Juliet, and was executor of their late brother John's estate. "Mike has been a farmer all his life and understands the land side of things," said Viscount Cobham.

Mike Dugdale, executor of the estate of the late John Lyttelton, the 11th Lord Cobham and brother of the present Lord Cobham, with the road sign in tribute to him.

*"JAMIE" JAMES carried out the functions of a butler. "If we had a butler he would have been it, but he wasn't actually called that," said Lord Cobham. "The demarkation of roles like his changed after the war."

*RICHARD REITENBACH was a prisoner of war from Germany who joined Hagley Hall as farm manager in 1951 and stayed on until he died about two years ago, aged in his 80s. He originally hailed from East Germany but had nobody left to return to there so stayed on in England.

*MAURICE SMITH, who had been a competitive long distance runner, was the "ultimate" handyman, who rewired, plumbed and replumbed Hagley Hall. "He lived in the cottage at the end of the drive and I was always fascinated by his workshop - I'm sure I used to be a major nuisance to him!" said Lord Cobham.

*GERALD FRITH, now in his early 80s, joined Hagley Hall as a forester in 1957 and still takes works part-time on the estate. "He's a delightful man and has planted most of the trees that are in Hagley Park," said Lord Cobham.

Gerald Frith, who was forester at Hagley Hall from 1957 and who still works there part-time, pictured as a young man.

In Edwardian times about 25 staff worked in the hall "Downton Abbey"-style, including many working on the housekeeping side, cooks, under cooks and "skivvies".

Nowadays the hall is run as a functions venue, employing about 10 full-time staff and scores of part-timers, mostly local students who help out at events.