Castle Bromwich Hall
Castle Bromwich Hall is a Jacobean mansion that was built between 1557 and 1585 by Sir Edward Devereaux, the first MP for Tamworth in Staffordshire. It was single storey with a plain entrance. It was bought by Orlando Bridgeman (keeper of The Great Seal) in 1657, for his son Sir John Bridgeman I. Sir John extended and improved the property in 1672, adding the second floor and a large front porch. His son, Sir John Bridgeman II, inherited in 1710. He extended the Hall and rebuilt it in local hand made bricks of clay. The Bridgmans were created Barons of Bradford in 1792 and (Earls) in 1851. A marriage also brought Weston Park into their possession, where they now still reside. The Hall was then rented out or used for other family members to live in. It is famous for having twelve windows (one for each Disciple) and four dormers above (one for each Apostle).
The garden door passed through a grapevine which was always trimmed into the form of a cross. The last family member (Lady Ida Bradford) left the Hall in 1936. It then was used for storage during World War II. Post war it was leased out as an apprentice training centre for the GEC, and then used as offices while the outbuildings are used by other small companies. The conservation area is centred on the Hall. The Hall is reported as having tunnels linking to the ex-vicarage and ex-public house nearby. These tunnels are not in use anymore.
Read more about this topic: Castle Bromwich
Famous quotes containing the words castle and/or hall:
“If, in looking at the lives of princes, courtiers, men of rank and fashion, we must perforce depict them as idle, profligate, and criminal, we must make allowances for the rich men’s failings, and recollect that we, too, were very likely indolent and voluptuous, had we no motive for work, a mortal’s natural taste for pleasure, and the daily temptation of a large income. What could a great peer, with a great castle and park, and a great fortune, do but be splendid and idle?”
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)
“Let us not be too much acquainted. I would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures, that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and self-poise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)