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Bramall Hall
Bramall Hall from the west, the side of the main entrance, showing the courtyard and the north and south wings. The Great Hall is in the centre.
Location within Greater Manchester
General information
Architectural style	Tudor
Town or city	Bramhall, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Construction started	14th century
Technical details
Structural system	Timber framed

Bramall Hall is a Tudor mansion in Bramhall, within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is a timber-framed manor house surrounded by 70 acres (28 ha) of landscaped parkland featuring lakes, woodland, and gardens. Dating back to Saxon times, the manor has passed through the hands of the families Massey, Davenport, Nevill, and Davies. The oldest parts of the hall date from the 14th century, with later additions from the 16th and 19th centuries. It is constructed of oak timber framing, which was originally infilled by wattle and daub.

Today it is run by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, and the hall and grounds are open to the public. The hall functions as a museum, and guided tours are available. Bramall also provides an extensive education service in conjunction with local schools, and there are regular special events that give visitors the chance to experience what life may have been like for those who lived in the hall.

History

Early history

The manor of Bramall dates from the Saxon period, when it was held as two separate estates owned by Brun and Hacun who were Saxon freemen. Following William the Conqueror's subdual of the north-west of England, the land was divided among his followers. Bramall was given to Hamon de Massey in around 1070, and he eventually became the first Baron of Dunham Massey. The earliest reference to Bramhall was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Bramale", a name derived from the Old English words brōm meaning broom, which was indigenous to the area, and halh, probably meaning nook or secret place. De Massey received the manor as wasteland, since it had been devastated by William the Conqueror's subdual, and its value had been significantly lowered.

In the first part of the 12th century, the land passed from the second Baron of Dunham Massey to Matthew de Bromale. Matthew's father is said to have founded the de Bromale family, naming himself after the land, and he may have been related to or a follower of the de Masseys. He may have also held the land at some point. The de Bromales held the land until 1370 when Alice de Bromale married John de Davenport, and the family name was changed.

The Davenports

The Davenport family's antecedents can be traced back to the time of the Norman conquest. Orm de Davenport lived close to what is now Marton, and his name derives from the Norman French Dauen-port meaning "the town on the trickling stream", presumably referring to where he lived (the trickling stream being the River Dane). In 1160, the family became responsible for Macclesfield Forest, and in the early 13th century Vivian Davenport became its Grand Sergeant. The family's coat of arms includes a man's head at the top in the centre, with a rope around the neck, which is said to represent the family's power over life and death during this period. The Davenports continued to acquire land throughout the area, notably at Wheltrough, Henbury, Woodford and lastly at Bramhall through marriage.

The Davenports held the manor for around 500 years, and it is likely that with their accession they built the current hall. The first William Davenport, who was lord of the manor from 1478 to 1528, and one of the first recorded trustees of Macclesfield Grammar School, was said to be heavily involved in the final battle of the Wars of the Roses at Bosworth and was thus instrumental in gaining the crown for Henry VII, who rewarded him with a pension of 20 marks per year payable for his lifetime. During this first William's tenure, it is possible that Bramall was part of a series of houses that were attacked by a man named Randle Hassall, who destroyed all or part of nine houses and stole the timber. This gives credence to the theory that Bramall was rebuilt, replacing or partially replacing an older building.

The third William Davenport, who succeeded his father of the same name in 1541, took part in what later became known as The Rough Wooing, a series of attacks against Scotland ordered by Henry VIII. He was knighted for his efforts in this campaign. The fifth William Davenport inherited Bramall in 1585 from his father of the same name, and lived there with his wife Dorothy for over 50 years. The first marriage in Bramall's chapel was recorded in 1599, between William, William and Dorothy's eldest son (aged 15) and Frances Wilbraham (aged 11). On 22 April 1603 William Davenport was knighted by James I at Newark, where the king was staying on his journey from Edinburgh to London, and he later became the High Sheriff of Cheshire and a commissioner of the hundred of Macclesfield. During the tenure of the fifth William, numerous alterations were made to the building, including the addition of a room above the great hall (which later became the withdrawing room) and a long gallery. The internal decorations were also updated with additions such as wall paintings and portraits.

The sixth William succeeded his father in 1639 shortly before the English Civil War broke out. He was a Royalist, though said to have not been a particularly dedicated one. Many of his tenants became Parliamentarian soldiers, and over the next three years he had numerous visits from Parliamentarian soldiers, mostly visiting to acquire goods such as horses and weapons for the war, and using the hall as housing. Bramall was also host to Royalist soldiers, who took property from the Davenports for use in the war. William Davenport was at one point charged with delinquency, and ordered to pay a fine of £500, which later increased to £750 as soldiers continued to use Bramall Hall due to its convenience.

William was briefly succeeded by his son Peter, who was followed by his son William. William's son, also named William, was the eighth William Davenport, and an inventory of his property made shortly after his death in 1706 shows the gallery and gatehouse of the hall were still intact. His two eldest sons inherited the estate but both died childless, so the estate passed to their younger brother Warren Davenport. Warren became part of the clergy, and during his tenure at Bramall he set up a school close to the entrance of the estate. The tenth, and final William Davenport succeeded his father at the age of four. Many changes were made to the hall during his tenure, including the dismantling of the gatehouse side of the courtyard and the long gallery, the latter of which may have been done due to being considered unsafe. William and his wife Martha had no sons, so the estate passed to his daughter (whom he had adopted), Maria's husband, Salusbury Pryce Humphreys.

Humphreys, a Naval captain, married Maria Davenport in 1810, and lived at Bramall Hall long before he succeeded his father-in-law. He became a widely respected person in the Stockport area, and participated in many ways in the community. Following his succession of the estate in 1829, there were disputes from other members of the Davenport family who claimed a right to the property, in particular from Edmund Davenport who claimed ancestry from Thomas Davenport, the third son of Peter. He tried in two different courts, but failed both times, and ended up in prison for being unable to pay the legal fees. Humphreys was knighted in 1831 for his services, and in May 1838 he changed his name to Davenport, in an effort to continue the Davenport line. He moved with Maria to Bath Buildings in Cheltenham in 1841, possibly because living at Bramall had become expensive, or possibly because of health concerns. Salusbury died there four years later and was buried in Leckhampton.

Over the next decade the hall was likely to have been let, Maria Davenport preferring to live elsewhere. Her eldest son, William Davenport Davenport married for a second time to Diana Handley in 1850, and they lived at Bramall for four years before the estate was passed to William. Maria moved to London where she lived with her youngest son, Charles, and died in 1866. During William's tenure Bramall was regularly visited by members of the public, and the chapel continued to be used for regular services of worship. However, following his death in 1869, the property was rented out to Wakefield Christy of Christys & Co Hatting, thus ending direct involvement from the Davenport family. This occurred because William's son, John was too young to inherit the estate. John's whereabouts during Christy's seven year tenure is unknown, though he was shown as a visitor at Bramall in 1871, and in 1874 became the first chairman of the Bramhall School Board. In 1876, he was listed as living on Ack Lane in Bramhall, shortly before he returned to the hall.

Later history

From 1869 to 1876, the hall was leased to Wakefield Christy, a member of Christys & Co Hatting. John Davenport returned to Bramall in 1876 at the age of 25, but on 24 January 1877 it was announced that the estate was to be sold. Much of the furniture was auctioned, and the hall itself, and rest of the Bramall estate totalling 1,918 acres (7.8 km) was sold to the Freeholders Company Limited, a Manchester property development firm, on 3 August 1877 for £200,000. Reasons for the sale were speculated, including financial issues and a personal distaste of the building. It remained empty until 1882 when it was purchased by Thomas Nevill, a local industrialist whose wealth came from calico printing, for his son, Charles. While living in the hall, Charles Nevill carried out substantial restoration and remodelling of the building, making the interior more comfortable while retaining most of the building's external features, as well as redesigning the landscape of its grounds. In the grounds a new stable was built, along with a west and east lodge, housing the coachman and head gardener respectively. Another building, known as Hall Cottage was also built in the vicinity, and housed the Sidebottom family.

Thomas Nevill inherited the estate in 1916, but decided to sell it following financial difficulties after the First World War. In 1923, many items of furniture were auctioned off, but there was no interest in actual purchase of the house. During that decade rumours of Bramall's dismantling and being transported to the United States arose, possibly due to it being popularised in Kate Douglas Wiggin's autobiography, who described her 1890 visit in it. In 1925, the hall was auctioned, with the condition that if no purchaser came forward it would be demolished and the materials sold off. At one point the local council offered to buy the estate, but the amount suggested was rejected by Nevill as "unacceptable". The auction received no acceptable offers, but one of the attendees at the auction, John Henry Davies, president of Manchester United, ended up making a late offer of £15,000 which was accepted. He lived in the hall until his death in 1927, but his widow Amy remained in the property until 1935 when she sold it to Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District Council for £14,360 with the intention that the hall and Park should be open to the public.

The house continued to be occupied by a caretaker, but the building was mostly open to the public. The house and grounds were used for various functions, such as the proclamation of George VI succeeding his brother to the throne. Around this time, the hall would have been sparsely furnished as the council were unable to afford much furniture. One of the council's earliest projects was the restoration of the chapel, which had fallen out of use towards the end of the 19th century. It was restored to resemble how it would have done when the Davenports were at Bramall, and a service was held on 30 October 1938 once the work had been done. In 1947, an association called the Friends of Bramall Hall was set up, primarily to find furnishings for the hall, but also to spread word and assist in the hall and ground's upkeep. Over the years, many furnishings which had once belonged to the hall were returned, including portraits of the occupants. Following local government reorganisation, the estate became the property of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in 1974 as it remains today.

Hall

There has been a settlement at Bramall since Saxon times. According to Alfred Burton, who wrote about Bramall in the late 19th century, the hall has not always been in the present location, with the original place being Crow Holt Wood. However, this was rebuked by another historian, Frederick Moorhouse, who decided in 1909 that Crow Holt Wood was an place where animals would have been taken to be sorted. However, neither theory is conclusive. The current hall is a grade I listed building, and the oldest parts date from the late 14th century, with latter renovations dating from the 16th and 19th centuries. It was originally accessed from the east side, the drive following the route of the Ladybrook stream, then uphill towards the chapel on the south side, reaching the courtyard on the other side. The main entrance is now on the side of the courtyard, in the west, due to the restructuring of the drive in 1888. The current layout can clearly be seen from the west side of the building, in the courtyard: the service wing is on the left, the Great Hall is in the centre, and the Banqueting Hall is on the right. Prior to the 19th century, the courtyard was enclosed by a gatehouse which was taken down around 1774 due to it not being required, nor being in vogue.

It is built with stone foundations, and the main structure is made of oak timbers, joined together using mortice and tenon joints, and held in place with oak pegs. Wattle and daub or lath and plaster are used to fill the spaces between the timbers. The black and white appearance from the timber framing construction dates from the Tudor period, though some parts have been repaired in later years.

Ground floor

The Great Hall is the central part of Bramall Hall. As with typical great halls in the Middle Ages, this would have been the place where the business of the house was conducted as well as a communal eating room for the household. It was originally an open-roofed, single-storey building, with a fireplace situated in the middle of the floor. Towards the end of the 16th century, the Great Hall was substantially rebuilt and divided into two storeys with the Withdrawing Room being created above it. A long gallery was also added as a third storey. The history of the gallery is uncertain; it was still there in 1790 but was taken down before 1819, because it was believed to be unsafe. There was once a belief that a right of way existed through the Great Hall, popularised by Harrison Ainsworth in his novel Rookwood in the mid-19th century. He wrote that the road took the traveller through the Great Hall, where he was entertained, and sometimes refreshed. Another tradition describes how food from the buttery hatch was given to the poor who congregated outside. No evidence exists for any such right of way. The Great Hall has a bay window with leaded windows, common throughout the building. The Lesser Hall leads off the southern end of the Great Hall. Its walls are made of oak panelling, and the timbers that the ceiling is constructed of are decorated with cross and rose shapes dating from the Victorian era. The Banqueting Hall, which leads off the Lesser Hall to the west, is believed to be the oldest part of the hall; its northern wall is possibly the oldest part of the present hall, having not been renovated like the rest of the courtyard walls. The Nevills used this room as a billiards room. The Chapel, opposite the Banqueting Hall was the only place of public worship in Bramhall for many years. Its earliest known use is in 1541, when it was described in the will of the second William Davenport. It fell into disrepair after its closure between 1869 and 1890, and following their purchase of the property in 1935, the council restored it, and religious services began to be held there again. On the north wall are unglazed windows which face the wall of the Library, which shows that the south wing was once separate from the Great Hall. The Ten Commandments are written on the west wall, and although a lot of it has faded, an older painting appeared from underneath. It is a pre-Reformation passion painting. Such depictions were banned during the Reformation, and whitewashed over. It was only in the 20th century that an effort was made to restore Passion paintings, but very little of this particular painting survives.

First floor

The Ballroom, also known as the Upper Banqueting Hall contains rare 16th century wall murals, including one which may depict the nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse", and along the east wall a man playing a mandolin is depicted. Its roof is arched, and the room likely dates from the 16th century. Above the Chapel is the Chapel Room, also known as the Queen Anne Room, the Priest's Room, or Nevill's Room. It was two rooms at one time, a state bedroom and ante-room, but it was almost totally transformed in the late 19th century into one larger room. A blocked-up door next to the fireplace was thought to have been a priest's hide, but is more likely to have once led somewhere else before the wing was restructured. The Paradise Room, north of the Chapel Room is named after the bed hangings which contain embroidered images of Adam and Eve and their fall from paradise, as well as the fact that paradise was a name used in Tudor times for a bedchamber or favourite room. This room has panelled walls, and a fireplace with a cupboard on the right hand side. On the other side there is a small recess, which was described in 1882 as "a dark passage which is said to lead to some region unknown". It is probable that this was a priest's hide, adjacent to the Chapel and Chapel Room. This room became associated with sightings of ghosts in the 19th century, and legends of a secret passage that led from this room outside or to the Chapel arose, but no such passages exist. The largest room on the first floor is the Withdrawing Room, situated above the Great Hall. It contains an elaborate plaster ceiling, and above the fireplace, the overmantel bears the arms of Queen Elizabeth I. The room also contains several shields of arms representing marriages of the Davenports. The northern wing of Bramall is above the servant working rooms below, and contains rooms where the servants slept.

Name

The village in which Bramall Hall is located is known as Bramhall and, in centuries past, that spelling has been used for the hall and park too. However, nowadays the name of the Hall is spelt without the "h". The Domesday Book used the spelling "Bramale", and that was what led Charles Nevill to prefer the "Bramall", a convention maintained by Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District Council when it acquired the property and continued by Stockport Council.

Grounds

The Hall is set in 70 acres (280,000 m) of parkland, originally only a part of the estate attached to the Hall, which was at one time around 2000 acres. The park would have been used for hunting, and the grounds would have been home to cattle, deer and horses. From the seventeenth century, however, the park was changed for use as agricultural land and then, in the 1880s, Charles Nevill remodelled it in the style of Capability Brown by altering the course of the Ladybrook and creating artificial lakes which remain today. They were filled with trout, but this is no longer the case, and around this time, many trees were planted. In 1888, a new drive was made through the park, taken further south of the hall than the previous drive, with the east entrance to the hall itself becoming a private doorway leading into the garden, where Charles Nevill set out terraces. Today the park is open to the public and it features woodland, open grass areas, gardens, a café, a bowling green and children's play areas.

Present day

The hall and grounds are open to the public and are run by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Tours of the hall are provided, in addition to self-guides. Many events and clubs are held in the hall and grounds throughout the year, and local schools often visit to experience life in a particular era. The hall is also licensed for wedding and civil partnership ceremonies, and it has been used as a background for several television series and films, including Prank Patrol, Cash in the Attic, Coronation Street and The Last Vampyre.

Notes

1. ^ Dean, p.13
2. ^ Dean, p.14
3. ^ Riley, p.6
4. ^ Dean, p.15
5. ^ Dean, p.16
6. ^ Dean, p.17
7. Dean, p.18
8. Dean, p.21
9. ^ Dean, p.22
10. Dean, p.24
11. Dean, p.25
12. Dean, p.26
13. ^ Dean, p.27
14. Dean, p.28
15. Dean, p.29
16. Dean, p.30
17. Dean, p.31
18. Dean, p.33
19. ^ Dean, p.34
20. Dean, p.36
21. Dean, p.37
22. ^ Dean, p.39
23. ^ Dean, p.40
24. Dean, p.43
25. Dean, p.44
26. Dean, p.45
27. ^ Dean, p.49
28. Dean, p.46
29. Dean, p.47
30. Dean, p.54
31. ^ Dean, p.59
32. Dean, p.58
33. Dean, p.62
34. Dean, pp.64-69
35. ^ Dean, p.69
36. ^ Dean, p.70
37. Dean, p.70-71
38. Dean, p.79
39. Dean, p.80
40. Dean, p.81
41. Dean, p.82
42. Dean, p.84
43. Dean, p.86
44. Dean, p.87
45. ^ Dean, p.88
46. Dean, p.89
47. Dean, p.90
48. Dean, p.92
49. Dean, p.95
50. Dean, p.100
51. Dean, p.11
52. ^ "Bramhall Park (2005)". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
53. ^ Dean, p.3
54. ^ Dean, p.5
55. ^ Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
56. Dean, p.35
57. ^ Dean, p.4
58. Dean, p.6
59. Dean, pp.17-18
60. Dean, p.7
61. ^ Dean, p.8
62. Dean, p.9
63. ^ Dean, p.10
64. Dean, p.9
65. ^ "Bramhall Park". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
66. Dean, p.63
67. "Bramhall Hall". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
68. "About us". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
69. "Bramall Hall Events Calendar 2009". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
70. "Education". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
71. "Weddings". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
72. "Civil Partnerships". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
73. "TV & Film". Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 13 September 2009.

References

• Bramall Hall. Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. 1981.
• Dean, E. Barbara (1977). Bramall Hall: The Story of an Elizabethan Manor House. Stockport: Recreation & Culture Division, Metropolitan Borough Council of Stockport. ISBN 0-905164-06-7.
• Riley, Peter (2006). Bramall Hall and the Davenport Family. Cheshire: P & D Riley. ISBN 9781874712510.

External links

• Bramall Hall

• Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester
• Houses in Greater Manchester
• Buildings and structures in Stockport