fbpx
Wikipedia

Bramshill House

Bramshill House, in Bramshill, northeast Hampshire, England, is one of the largest and most important Jacobean prodigy house mansions in England. It was built in the early 17th century by the 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth but was partly destroyed by fire a few years later. The design shows the influence of the Italian Renaissance, which became popular in England during the late 16th century. The house was designated a Grade I listed building in 1952.

Bramshill House, south façade with oriel window in centre

The mansion's southern façade is notable for its decorative architecture, which includes at its centre a large oriel window above the principal entrance. Interior features include a great hall displaying 92 coats of arms on a Jacobean screen, an ornate drawing room, and a 126.5-foot-long (38.6 m) gallery. Numerous columns and friezes are found throughout the mansion, while several rooms have large tapestries depicting historical figures and events on their panelled walls. The house is set in 262 acres (106 ha) of grounds containing an 18-acre (7.3 ha) lake. The grounds, which received a Grade II* listing in 1984, are part of a Registered Historic Park that includes about 25 acres (10 ha) of early 17th-century formal gardens near the house. The wider medieval park was landscaped from the 17th to the 20th century and contains woodland.

Bramshill appears to have been a local sporting and social venue since the 16th century. The cricket ground at the house played host to a first-class match in 1823 when an early Hampshire team played an England XI, and it hosted three other matches in 1825–26. During the Second World War, the mansion was used as a Red Cross maternity home, before becoming the residence of the exiled King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania for a number of years. It became the location of the Police Staff College in 1960, and was later home to the European Police College. As a result, many campus buildings have been added to the estate. Owing to escalating maintenance costs the property was sold to the heritage property developers City & Country in August 2014. Among the 14 ghosts reputed to haunt the house is that of a bride who accidentally locked herself in a chest on her wedding night and was not found until 50 years later.

Location edit

 
 
Bramshill House
class=notpageimage|
Location of Bramshill House in Hampshire

Bramshill House is at the approximate centre of a triangle formed by Reading, Basingstoke and Farnborough, about 47 miles (76 km) by road southwest of central London.[1][2] It lies to the northeast of Hartley Wintney, east of Hazeley off the B3349 road, southeast of the village of Bramshill, which lies on the B3011 road. Three main lanes approach the property: Mansion Drive from the B3011 in the southwest, Reading Drive South from the B3011 to the east of Bramshill village from the north, and the shorter Pheasantry Drive which approaches it from the southeast from Chalwin's Copse, just north of the course of the River Hart. Within the grounds is a private lane, Lower Pool Road, which connects Mansion Drive to Reading Drive South, passing the pond and several outer buildings. The latitudinal and longitudinal location is 51°19'57.9"N 0°54'43.2"W or also, 51.332759, −0.911991.[2]

History edit

Original house edit

The 1086 Domesday Book lists one of the two manors of Bromeselle (the Anglo-Norman spelling of Bromshyll) as held by Hugh de Port.[3]

In the early 14th century, Sir John Foxley (c. 1270 – c. 1325), Baron of the Exchequer,[4] built and endowed a chapel in the village of Bramshill.[5] His first wife, Constance de Bramshill, may have been the heiress of the Bramshill family. Their son, Thomas Foxley (c. 1305–1360), became MP for Berkshire in 1325, and was appointed constable of Windsor Castle in 1328, soon after the accession of the 14-year-old Edward III.[6] In 1347 he obtained a licence to build a manor house or small castle at Bramshill, which included a 2,500-acre (1,000 ha) wooded park.[7] The house, built between 1351 and 1360, had thick walls, vaulted cellars, and an internal courtyard measuring 100 by 80 feet (30 by 24 m).[6] Based on the similarity of the surviving vaults under Bramshill House and those under what became the servants' hall and steward's room at Windsor Castle, it may have been a copy of William of Wykeham's work there.[8][9]

The estate remained in the hands of the Foxley family and their heirs, the Essex family,[10] until 1499, when it was sold to Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney. Giles's son Henry Daubeney (later Earl of Bridgewater) sold the property to Henry VIII, and in 1547 Edward VI granted the estate to William Paulet, whose heirs sold it in 1600 to Sir Stephen Thornhurst of Agnes Court, Kent.[11]

New manor house edit

 
Lord Zouche bought the property from Sir Stephen Thornhurst in 1605.

In March 1605,[12] Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, a favourite of James I,[13] bought the property from Thornhurst. A house was earlier planned on the site for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (1594–1612),[13] whose heraldic feathers are displayed above the central pediment.[14] Lord Zouche demolished a large part of the building and began to build the Bramshill House of today. Henry Shaw describes the new house which Zouche built as a "specimen of Elizabethan [sic] architecture [which] merits particular attention, exhibiting all the stateliness for which the period referred to was remarkable, with a suite of apartments both large and lofty. The amplitude of its dimensions indicate a princely residence."[15]

An inventory taken in 1634 after Zouche's death listed the library as having 250 books and a collection of mathematical instruments, and revealed that the maids' chamber was of a very high standard.[16] James Zouch, grandson of Edward la Zouche, sold the property to the Earl of Antrim in 1637, at which time the house's furniture was valued at £2,762.[17] During the reign of Charles I, the house was partly destroyed by a fire. On 25 June 1640, Lord Antrim sold Bramshill for £9,500 to Sir Robert Henley.[18] In 1673 it was the property of his son, Sir Andrew Henley, 1st Baronet.[19]

Sir John Cope purchased the property in 1699, and his descendants occupied the premises until 1935. The Cope family shortened the wings on the south side in 1703, converted most of the chapel to a drawing room and introduced a mezzanine on the west side during the 18th century. They were responsible for much of the interior, with significant renovation work done in the 19th century and in 1920.[20] After his victory over Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington was offered his choice of house by Parliament; he visited Bramshill but in 1817 chose Stratfield Saye instead.[21]

Sporting events edit

 
 
Sports on the Troco Terrace in the 17th century. Left: A game of bowls. Right: Fencing practice. Lithograph and watercolour by Joseph Nash.

Numerous paintings and prints depict games and social events taking place on the lawn; one such painting by Joseph Nash, now in the National Fencing Museum, depicts 17th-century rapier practice, with a number of upper-class men, women and children as spectators.[22]

The cricket ground at the house first played host to a first-class match in 1823 when an early Hampshire team played an England XI. Hampshire won by five wickets.[23] Two further first-class matches were played there in 1825, when Hampshire drew against Godalming and defeated Sussex.[24] A final first-class match was held there in 1826 when a combined Hampshire and Surrey team played and lost to Sussex.[25]

Modern times edit

In 1935, the house was purchased from the Cope family by Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket, the house's last private owner.[26] It was used by the Red Cross as a maternity home during the Second World War, after which it became the home of the exiled King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania for several years.[27]"

Bramshill House became a Grade I listed building on 8 July 1952,[28][29] and was acquired by the British government the following year[30] as a dedicated site for police training.[31] It became the location of the National Police College in 1960.[32] From 2005, two buildings on the site housed the European Police College (CEPOL) until this was moved to Budapest in 2014.[33][34]

By the late 1980s the estate had become expensive to maintain, and according to John Wheeler, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, by 1989 it was "in a poor state of repair".[35] In July 2013 the Home Office placed the house and estate on the market for £25 million. It was sold to the heritage property developers City & Country in August 2014.[36] In 2018, the house, with a reduced estate of about 90 acres, was put back on the market with a guide price of £10 million.[37][38] In the 2022 movie Matilda the Musical, the house was used as the filming location for the school Crunchem Hall.[39]

Architecture edit

Exterior edit

 
The front (southern) façade of Bramshill House

The 15-bedroom 56,974 square feet (5,293.1 m2) Bramshill House is one of the largest and most important Jacobean mansions in England,[21][40] described as one of the "glories of English architecture" by the historians Anthony Blunt and James Lees-Milne.[41]

The architecture of the three-storey building was inspired by the Italian Renaissance, and was executed mainly by German builders.[42] It is approximately 140 feet (43 m) in length.[19] The design is traditionally attributed to the architect John Thorpe, although no records remain to confirm the attribution.[43] Surviving records do show that the stone mason Richard Goodridge was working at Bramshill in 1617 and again in 1621 and the authors of the revised Hampshire volume of Pevsner's Buildings of England suggest him as a possible alternative designer.[44]

The building stands on the edge of a plateau, overlooking the park to the south.[45] The plan of the house is unusual, partly because of its incorporation of the earlier building; it extends at right angles to the primary (southern) façade.[43] The elevations are symmetrical, facing outwards, but the interior court is narrow, and projecting wings lie at either end of the eastern and western sides.[28]

Bramshill House is three storeys high on the southern main entrance side and two storeys high to the north and east. There are three vaulted cellars to the west.[28] The house is built of red brick laid in English bond dressed with stone, with ashlar quoining at the corners of the wings. Stone dressings are featured on numerous large mullion windows. An open carved parapet surmounts the building.[19] The roof consists of red tiles, and there are large gables on the west side.[43] The chimney stacks are rectangular.[28]

North and south edit

 
The central bay and loggia of the south entrance

The north façade has three bays separated by windows and features a loggia, typical of early 17th-century houses, with a central arched entrance to accommodate coaches.[43] The central bay is crowned by an ornamental pierced parapet below a niched Dutch gable, which shelters a small statue of Lord Zouche[43][46] or James I.[47] There are small obelisks at either side of the gable.[28] Thorpe originally intended the main entrance of the house to be on this side, building on the gatehouse of the earlier Foxley house.[48]

The southern façade was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "among the most fanciful pieces of Jacobean design in [England]".[40] It is three storeys high and features three sets of three bays in either wing, with five inner sections.[49]

The outer two of the inner sections feature eight angular windows, aligned in rows of four on the first two floors and then a row of four windows on the top floor. The inner two sections have the same layout on the first and top floors with eight windows aligned in rows of four on the first floor and four windows on the top floor, but the ground floor features two arches, which form part of the central loggia.[49]

The stone central bay, 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, is emphasised by superimposed double decorated pilasters on all floors and the central archway of the loggia in the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders,[50] surmounted by a florid perforated pediment. In addition there is an oriel window on the first floor above the main entrance.[40][47]

An important difference from the other sides of this building is a terrace, 25 feet (7.6 m) in width, between the projecting wings, a kind of architectural foreground to the garden.[47] The terrace is bounded by a 3-foot-3-inch-high (0.99 m) balustrade.[51] The arcade on the terrace of the southern front is a good example of Italian domestic architecture, used in villas.[52] The triglyphs and ornamented metopes, together with the simple capitals of the columns, indicate the Doric order, but are light enough to be Ionic.[53] The south entrance was the model for Darlington,[37] the Crocker-McMillin Mansion in New Jersey, US, built between 1901 and 1907.

 
East front: the Troco Terrace is above the basement-level brick wall, parallel to the façade
 
The southernmost of two arcaded openings on the Troco Terrace

East and west edit

The east façade is the longest, about 124 feet (38 m) wide, and two storeys high.[47] It features four full-height angular bays with two windows between, while its upper walls have two arches set within a rectangular panel.[28] On this side there is a Troco Terrace with a lawn, as well as two arcaded openings at the side on either wing of the house.

The southernmost arcaded opening contains a bench with eight arches and has three tables, one of which is older and octagonal.[54] Carved in the wall at the side is a frieze consisting of four squares, each depicting an animal: a lion, an elephant, a wild boar and a camel.[55]

The west façade dates to the 18th century and is the only one with multiple gables;[43] the windows on the ground floor are sashed.[28]

Interior edit

 
Ground floor plan in the 1880s

Two of the rooms have large tapestries on their walls depicting historical figures and scenes.[56] Those in the drawing room contain scenes from Roman history and were based on designs by Peter Paul Rubens, who supervised the work in Brussels. These tapestries were initially made for Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester, Zouche's brother-diplomat, but in the end he rejected them for another set; how the first set came to Bramshill is not known. Rubens's sketches for the first and last tapestries in the series are in Alte Pinakothek (Munich).[57]

The west section of the ground floor contains the former dining room and kitchen. The openings in the wall between the billiard room and the garden room had been blocked up but the rooms were reconnected in the 19th century under Sir William Henry Cope, uncovering an original doorway with a four-centred pointed arch.[58] Cope applied arabesque patterns to the panelling in the garden room, which he had traced when two of the bedrooms were being repainted.[59] The billiard room has a hidden door leading to the original entrance on the north side of the house through the Foxley gatehouse into the interior courtyard, and several doorways remain in the kitchen and housekeeping areas.[60]

The Great Hall, to which an arcaded porch gives direct access, retains the basic design of the original construction.[61] It has a dais[61] and a Jacobean stone screen, 13 feet (4.0 m) high, decorated with 92 shields. Resident families emblazoned the shields with the arms of ancestors and family members.[43][62][63] The entablature of the screen has a double row of 40 sculptured shields and has a depth of 2 feet 6 inches (0.76 m).[53] Beyond the dais, double doors lead into the Terrace Hall at the foot of the staircase.[58] Across from this is the former dining room, containing a large tapestry, believed to have been made by an English artist, "representing forest scenery in very subdued colours".[58] During the time of the Cope family in the 1880s, the kitchen near the south hall was used as a dairy. The kitchen and the adjoining room had back-to-back fireplaces.[64]

Drawing room and library edit

 
The drawing room in 1903

The drawing room, containing four bay windows of different sizes, is panelled with oak for its entire height of about 16 feet (4.9 m).[65] One of the upper panels, surmounted by its Corinthian entablature, is a frieze depicting a fig, grape, and pomegranate, each with foliage and blossoms. One of the lower panels, part of the dado in the same room, has a section of projecting mouldings. The upper panel is 2 feet 10 inches by 2 feet 4 inches (.86 m × .71 m); the lower, 2 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 6 inches (.79 m × .76 m).[65]

The massive chimneypiece in the drawing room is classically designed, believed to be inspired by one of the great Italian architects of 16th-century Mannerism, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola.[66] It is two storeys in height, the lower being Doric and the upper Ionic. The distribution of the members is regular, and the shafts of the columns are variegated marble. The upper compartment of the chimneypiece is composed of separate pieces of the same diversified material, and the frieze of the upper order also consists of coloured marble in the centre. The fireplace is 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 m) high, and retains the ancient andirons, used for burning wood. These are large and well adorned, particularly in the lower part.[66]

The ceilings of the drawing room and library are the most elaborate in the house.[66] The plaster frieze in the library also displays fine workmanship; 1 foot 7 inches (0.48 m) wide, it is designed in a striking arabesque pattern, with an evident Florentine influence.[65] In the 1880s the library had a collection of 5,000 volumes, about half the number the Cope family owned at the time.[67]

Staircase and first floor edit

 
First floor plan in the 1880s

The standards and balusters of the stairs on the north side of the hall came from Eversley Manor House and probably date to the mid-17th century,[43] although the treads are original to the house and possibly mid-16th century.[61][68] The walls above the stairs and on the first-floor landing contain some very large paintings, including several portraits.[69]

Beyond the staircase are the state rooms[69] and what was known as the "Wrought Room".[59] The room has an ornamental ceiling with a Renaissance chimneypiece.[59] Two of the bedrooms, the two "White Rooms", were originally connected to what was called the Flower-de-luce Room, but the doors have been boarded up.[70]

The Long Gallery fills the first floor of the northern range: 126.5 feet (38.6 m) long and with a richly decorated stucco ceiling and a complex wooden chimneypiece,[71] it formerly contained a "very curious collection of portraits of distinguished characters".[15][72]

Also on the first floor is the "Chapel Drawing Room" in the south wing, connected to the Drawing Room.[73] The Copes created this room by reducing the size of the original chapel, which is entered through it.[74] The current chapel has an altar reredos with paintings of the Virgin Mary, St. Stephen, St. Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist, by Alexander Rowan and dated by Pevsner to about 1840.[71][75] The tapestry in the chapel room is older than the house, and was assessed by an expert as dating to 1450 or earlier; in the early 19th century it had hung in the Red Drawing Room.[76] When the chapel ceiling was restored by Sir William Cope, it was discovered that one section of the plaster work had previously been replaced with carved wood.[76] The large window in the south wall of the courtyard was presumably moved from the original chapel.[71]

Grounds and garden edit

 
View of Bramshill House from its grounds to the south
 
Gate of the park, 1899

The house is set in 262 acres (106 ha) of grounds,[77] which include an 18-acre (7.3 ha) lake north of the house.[78] The grounds form part of a Registered Historic Park that received a Grade II* listing in 1984; this was subsequently upgraded to Grade I in September 2017. Under this designation are the 25 acres (10 ha) of early 17th-century formal gardens near the house, the wider 490-acre (200 ha) medieval park, landscaped from the 17th to the 20th century, with 250 acres (100 ha) of woodland[79] and buildings including an icehouse and a folly known as Conduit House.[77] Parts of the park have been used for commercial softwood production since the 19th century.[79]

To the west of the house is Peatmoor Copse and to the east Bramshill Forest,[2] and the grounds contained what was known as the "Green Court" and the "Flower Garden" at the time of William Henry Cope in the 1880s. The Grade I listed gatehouse dates to the time of the Foxleys.[80] The fir trees in the grounds are reputed to have been planted "as a memento of his former home" by James I, who brought them from Scotland.[72][81] The formal gardens were first laid out by Edward la Zouche, a horticulturist. Sir John Cope redesigned the gardens and continued the planting of trees in the park. At the close of the 18th century the grounds were re-landscaped to be less formal, and some areas in the south were returned to parkland.[9]

 
Main entrance

Bramshill Park was conceived as a "hunting box" for Henry Frederick and became a popular estate for hunting.[72] On 24 July 1621, while hunting in the park, George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, accidentally shot and killed one of the gamekeepers with his crossbow.[12] An inquiry cleared him of murder.[65] Another notable clergyman/hunter who frequented Bramshill was Charles Kingsley, rector of Eversley,[82] who hunted fox and deer and collected butterflies there[83] and frequently took his family and friends.[84] Kingsley was reportedly especially enamoured of the fir trees, which he considered "a source of constant delight",[81] fondly naming them "James the First's gnarled giants".[85] In the 19th century, Sir John Cope, a friend of Kingsley's, was known as a supporter of the fox hunt and especially as a breeder of fox hounds.[86][87] The opening of the season at Bramshill in the late 1840s was noted in the British hunting press.[88]

The main avenue approaches from the southwest, through an arched gateway formed by two Grade II listed early 19th-century lodges,[89] before crossing the Broad Water formed by the River Hart by a Grade I listed early 19th-century bridge with two arches.[90] There are separate listings for other structures near the house, including the Grade I listed early 17th-century triple-arched gateway on the route to Reading to the northeast of the house,[91] Grade I listed early 17th-century boundary walls and turrets to the south and west,[92] Grade II listed boundary walls and gate-piers to the west, including the kitchen garden,[93] Grade I listed garden walls and gateways to the north and east,[94] and the Grade II listed late 18th-century stable block to the north.[95]

Legends edit

Bramshill has been cited as one of the most haunted houses in England.[96][97] According to one UK police officer who worked at the college, 14 ghosts have purportedly been identified, although another officer at the college did not take these suggestions seriously.[27] They include a Grey Lady (one story suggests that her husband, a religious dissenter, was beheaded in the 17th century) and a Green Man (a Cope family member who either drowned in the lake in 1806, according to the journalist P. Lal, or threw himself off a cliff near Brighton, according to the author Penny Legg).[27][98]

The Green Man, dressed as his name suggests, reportedly manifests near the lake, as does the ghost supposed to be that of a gardener who drowned there.[98]

The Grey Lady allegedly haunts the terrace, the library, and the chapel. Legg suggests that she has a young and beautiful appearance, with a sad, tear-stained face and golden hair, and smelling of the lilies of the valley; Lal argues that she has reddish-brown hair and wears a grey, sleeveless robe.[27][99] The Grey Lady's husband has been reported to haunt the stables and the chapel drawing room.

The ghost of a young child allegedly haunts the library and the Fleur de Lys room; the child has supposedly been heard crying, and attempts to hold visitors' hands. Folklore holds that the Grey Lady was the child's mother.[99]

A lady dressed in the style of Queen Anne, and a knight in armour, are reported to have been seen in the chapel drawing room. The chapel itself is purportedly frequented by the ghost of a lady in 17th-century dress, and by that of a nun.

A young man dressed in 1920s tennis garb, reputed to be a Cope family member who fell from a train, has supposedly been seen in the reception area of the house. A small boy documented to haunt the terrace is said to have fallen from the roof sometime in the 18th century.[98]

In addition, Bramshill House was cited by the historian William Page as a possible location for the Legend of the Mistletoe Bough, a ghost story associated with several English country mansions.[7] This legend tells of a bride who supposedly hid in a wooden chest during a game of hide and seek on her wedding night. In the case of Bramshill House, the story has it that this happened at Christmas time, and that the bride was found fifty years later still wearing her wedding dress and with a sprig of mistletoe in her hand; the chest is on display in the entrance hall.[27]

The woman is sometimes identified as John Cope's daughter Anne, who married Hugh Bethell of Yorkshire.[100] An alternative claim is that she was Genevre Orsini, who was married in 1727, and that her ghost came to Bramshill from Italy together with the chest.[27] In his monograph on the house, the Victorian writer Sir William Cope preferred this theory and added that the chest on display was not the original, which had been proved large enough by "a woman of comely proportions" who had tested it by lying down in it, but which had been taken away by Sir Denzil Cope's widow in 1812.[101]

The ghost of the bride is referred to as the White Lady, and she is said by Legg to haunt the Fleur de Lys room.[102] According to Legg, Michael I of Romania asked to be moved to another room during a stay there, in order to not be disturbed by the young woman in white who passed through his bedroom every night.[99]

An old man with a grey beard, thought by Legg to be the father or husband of the White Lady, is reported to stare through windows and at the Mistletoe Chest.[99]

References edit

  •   This article incorporates text from publications now in the public domain: Henry Shaw's Details of Elizabethan Architecture (1839), and Sir William Henry Cope's Bramshill: Its History & Architecture (1883).

Notes edit

  1. ^ Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 Landranger Series of Great Britain (Map). 1:50 000. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Google (8 August 2013). "Bramshill House" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Bramshill". Hampshire Gazetteer – JandMN: 2001. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  4. ^ Ford, David Nash. "Biographies: John Foxley (d. 1325)". Royal Berkshire History. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  5. ^ Jeans 1906, pp. 237–38.
  6. ^ a b Ford, David Nash. "Biographies: Thomas Foxley (d. 1360)". Royal Berkshire Society. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b Page 1911, pp. 32–41.
  8. ^ Cope 1883, p. 18.
  9. ^ a b . National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. 17 October 2010. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  10. ^ Cope 1883, p. 9.
  11. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 9–11.
  12. ^ a b Cope 1883, p. 11.
  13. ^ a b Allen 1873, pp. 313–25.
  14. ^ Cox 1904, p. 85.
  15. ^ a b Shaw 1839, p. 34.
  16. ^ Cliffe 1999, pp. 104, 163.
  17. ^ Cliffe 1999, p. 39.
  18. ^ Cope 1883, p. 14.
  19. ^ a b c Shaw 1839, p. 35.
  20. ^ Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, pp. 139–40.
  21. ^ a b Sager 1996, p. 159.
  22. ^ "Malcolm Fare's Collection". British Veteran's Fencing. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  23. ^ "Hampshire v England, 1823". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  24. ^ "First-Class Matches played on Bramshill Park". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  25. ^ "Hampshire and Surrey v Sussex, 1826". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  26. ^ Churchill, Penny (25 July 2013). "Jacobean Country Houses for Sale". Country Life. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  27. ^ a b c d e f Lal, P. (16 January 2000). "Playing Host to Many a Ghost". The Tribune. Chandigarh, India. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g "Bramshill House, Bramshill". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  29. ^ Historic England. "Bramshill House (1340025)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  30. ^ Lucas-Tooth, Hugh (2 April 1953). "College (Permanent Site)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  31. ^ Lloyd George, Gwilym (31 March 1955). "Police (Recruitment and Conditions)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  32. ^ Hirschel, Wakefield & Sasse 2007, p. 125.
  33. ^ Gregory, Chris (21 May 2011). "Brighter Future for Police College". Basingstoke Gazette. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  34. ^ "CEPOL Moving to Budapest". Council of the European Union. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  35. ^ Wheeler, John (6 July 1989). "Common Police Services". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  36. ^ "City & Country acquires Police College at Bramshill in Hampshire". Property Magazine International. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  37. ^ a b "Magnificent Mammoth Mansion – £10m Bramshill House, Hampshire". The Steeple Times. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  38. ^ "10 bedroom house for sale in Bramshill Mansion, Bramshill, Hook, Hampshire, RG27". www.knightfrank.com. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  39. ^ De Semlyen, Phil (3 January 2023). "Matilda the Musical's Crunchem Hall is a real place – and you can visit it". Time Out Worldwide. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  40. ^ a b c Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, p. 138.
  41. ^ Blunt & Lees-Milne 2001, p. 168.
  42. ^ Tanner & Galsworthy Davie 1903, p. 15.
  43. ^ a b c d e f g h Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, p. 139.
  44. ^ Bullen et al. 2010, p. 197.
  45. ^ "Public Consultation, Bramshill House, Hampshire". City & Country. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  46. ^ Cope 1883, p. 29.
  47. ^ a b c d Shaw 1839, p. 36.
  48. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 29–30.
  49. ^ a b "Bramshill House". Geograph. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  50. ^ Cope 1883, p. 26.
  51. ^ Shaw 1839, pp. 36–37.
  52. ^ Shaw 1839, p. 37.
  53. ^ a b Shaw 1839, p. 38.
  54. ^ "Bramshill House – Troco Terrace". Geograph. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  55. ^ "Bramshill House – Troco Terrace". Geograph. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  56. ^ Tripp 2002, p. 134.
  57. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 43–48.
  58. ^ a b c Cope 1883, p. 39.
  59. ^ a b c Cope 1883, p. 54.
  60. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 40–41.
  61. ^ a b c Salvan 2005, p. 497.
  62. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 38, 120–21.
  63. ^ C. E. L. 1843, p. 60 note b.
  64. ^ Cope 1883, p. 129.
  65. ^ a b c d Shaw 1839, p. 39.
  66. ^ a b c Shaw 1839, p. 40.
  67. ^ Cope 1883, p. 49.
  68. ^ Cope 1883, p. 42.
  69. ^ a b Bramshill House 9331, Country Life, Retrieved 20 July 2013
  70. ^ Cope 1883, p. 53.
  71. ^ a b c Pevsner & Lloyd 1967, p. 140.
  72. ^ a b c Kingsley 1885, pp. 129–32.
  73. ^ Cope 1883, p. 43.
  74. ^ Cope 1883, p. 56.
  75. ^ Cope 1883, p. 57.
  76. ^ a b Cope 1883, p. 60.
  77. ^ a b "Bramshill, Hook, Hampshire, RG27" (pdf brochure). Knight Frank. 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  78. ^ Borrell & Cashinella 1975, p. 176.
  79. ^ a b Historic England. "Bramshill Park (1000165)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  80. ^ Cope 1883, p. 30.
  81. ^ a b Evershed 1887, p. 103.
  82. ^ . The Police College Journal. 8 (3): 202–07. 1964. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015.
  83. ^ Ribblesdale & Burrows 1897, pp. 160–63.
  84. ^ Kingsley 1877, p. 438.
  85. ^ Smith 1887, pp. 511–49.
  86. ^ Cecil 1849a, pp. 319–25.
  87. ^ Cecil 1852, pp. 35–41.
  88. ^ Cecil 1849b, pp. 416–25.
  89. ^ Historic England. "Lodges to Bramshill House (1092207)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  90. ^ Historic England. "High Bridge (1091941)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  91. ^ Historic England. "Gateway to Bramshill House (1091938)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  92. ^ Historic England. "Walls and Turrets South of Bramshill House (1091939)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  93. ^ Historic England. "Walls and Gate Piers to West of Bramshill House (1091940)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  94. ^ Historic England. "Garden Walls and Gateways North of Bramshill House (1340026)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  95. ^ Historic England. "Stable Block at Bramshill House (1340027)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  96. ^ "Jacobean country houses for sale". Country Life. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  97. ^ Legg 2010, p. 48.
  98. ^ a b c Legg 2010, p. 52.
  99. ^ a b c d Legg 2010, p. 51.
  100. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 77, 91.
  101. ^ Cope 1883, pp. 51–52.
  102. ^ Legg 2010, pp. 49–50.

Bibliography edit

  • Allen, E. W. (28 June 1873). "The Castles, Halls, and Manor Houses of England: Bramshill, Hampshire". The Antiquary. 3 (69): 313–15.
  • Blunt, Anthony; Lees-Milne, James (2001). "Spread of the Renaissance: England, Tudor and Jacobean". In John Julius Norwich (ed.). Great Architecture of the World. Da Capo. pp. 168–69. ISBN 978-0-306-81042-8.
  • Borrell, Clive; Cashinella, Brian (1975). Crime in Britain Today. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7100-8232-9.
  • Bullen, Michael; Crook, John; Hubbuck, Rodney; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2010). Hampshire: Winchester And The North. The Buildings of England. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12084-4.
  • Cecil (1849a). "Notes of the Chase". The Sporting Magazine.
  • Cecil (1849b). "Notes of the Chase". The Sporting Review.
  • Cecil (January 1852). "The Friends to Fox-Hunting, Both Great and Small". The New Sporting Magazine.
  • Cliffe, John Trevor (1999). The World of the Country House in Seventeenth-Century England. Yale. ISBN 978-0-300-07643-1.
  • Cope, Sir William Henry (1883). Bramshill: Its History & Architecture (PDF). London: Infield. OCLC 7444327.
  • Cox, John Charles (1904). Hampshire. The Little Guides. Methuen. p. 85. OCLC 2143241.
  • Evershed, Henry (1887). "Canon Kingsley as a Naturalist and Country Clergyman". The Living Age. 172: 98–104.
  • Hirschel, J. David; Wakefield, William; Sasse, Scott (2007). Criminal Justice in England and the United States. Jones and Bartlett. ISBN 978-0-7637-4112-9.
  • Jeans, George Edward (1906). Memorials of Old Hampshire. Bemrose and Sons.
  • Kingsley, Charles (1877). Charles Kingsley: His Letters and Memories of His Life. Edited by His Wife. Scribner, Armstrong and Co.
  • Kingsley, Rose G. (1885). "The Children of Westminster Abbey". In Pratt, Ella Farman; Pratt, Charles Trowbridge (eds.). Wide Awake. Vol. 21. D. Lothrop.
  • Legg, Penny (2010). Folklore of Hampshire. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-5179-4.
  • C. E. L. (1843). "Church Notes on Hampshire". Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica. 8: 43–66.
  • Page, William, ed. (1911). "Parishes: Eversley". A History of the County of Hampshire. Vol. 4. Constable & Co.
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus; Lloyd, David Wharton (1967). Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The Buildings of England. Vol. 32. Penguin. OCLC 484927.
  • Ribblesdale, Baron Thomas Lister; Burrows, Edward (1897). The Queen's Hounds and Stag-hunting Recollections. Longmans, Green & Co. p. 160.
  • Sager, Peter (1996). Südengland: von Kent bis Cornwall: Architektur und Landschaft, Literatur und Geschichte. DuMont Kunst-Reiseführer (in German). DuMont. ISBN 978-3-7701-3498-4.
  • Salvan, George Salinda (2005). Architectural Character & The History of Architecture (3rd ed.). Goodwill Trading. ISBN 978-971-12-0262-0.
  • Shaw, Henry (1839). Details of Elizabethan Architecture. (Elizabethan Architecture and its ornamental details. By T. Moule). William Pickering. p. 34. OCLC 620865.
  • Smith, John (1887). "On the Present State and Future Prospects of Arboriculture in Hampshire". Scottish Forestry Journal. 11: 511–44.
  • Tanner, Henry; Galsworthy Davie, W. (1903). Old English Doorways: A series of historical examples from Tudor times to the end of the XVIII century. B. T. Batsford. p. 15.
  • Tripp, Miles (2002). The Eighth Passenger: A Flight of Recollection and Discovery. Wordsworth. ISBN 978-1-84022-252-4.

External links edit

  • Bramshill House Photographs courtesy of Geoff Cheshire – Pbase
  • Bramshill House, Bramshill, Hook, Hampshire at KnightFrank website
  • Properties at Bramshill House 28 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine at City & Country website

51°19′51″N 0°54′44″W / 51.33083°N 0.91222°W / 51.33083; -0.91222

bramshill, house, bramshill, northeast, hampshire, england, largest, most, important, jacobean, prodigy, house, mansions, england, built, early, 17th, century, 11th, baron, zouche, harringworth, partly, destroyed, fire, years, later, design, shows, influence, . Bramshill House in Bramshill northeast Hampshire England is one of the largest and most important Jacobean prodigy house mansions in England It was built in the early 17th century by the 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth but was partly destroyed by fire a few years later The design shows the influence of the Italian Renaissance which became popular in England during the late 16th century The house was designated a Grade I listed building in 1952 Bramshill House south facade with oriel window in centreThe mansion s southern facade is notable for its decorative architecture which includes at its centre a large oriel window above the principal entrance Interior features include a great hall displaying 92 coats of arms on a Jacobean screen an ornate drawing room and a 126 5 foot long 38 6 m gallery Numerous columns and friezes are found throughout the mansion while several rooms have large tapestries depicting historical figures and events on their panelled walls The house is set in 262 acres 106 ha of grounds containing an 18 acre 7 3 ha lake The grounds which received a Grade II listing in 1984 are part of a Registered Historic Park that includes about 25 acres 10 ha of early 17th century formal gardens near the house The wider medieval park was landscaped from the 17th to the 20th century and contains woodland Bramshill appears to have been a local sporting and social venue since the 16th century The cricket ground at the house played host to a first class match in 1823 when an early Hampshire team played an England XI and it hosted three other matches in 1825 26 During the Second World War the mansion was used as a Red Cross maternity home before becoming the residence of the exiled King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania for a number of years It became the location of the Police Staff College in 1960 and was later home to the European Police College As a result many campus buildings have been added to the estate Owing to escalating maintenance costs the property was sold to the heritage property developers City amp Country in August 2014 Among the 14 ghosts reputed to haunt the house is that of a bride who accidentally locked herself in a chest on her wedding night and was not found until 50 years later Contents 1 Location 2 History 2 1 Original house 2 2 New manor house 2 3 Sporting events 2 4 Modern times 3 Architecture 3 1 Exterior 3 1 1 North and south 3 1 2 East and west 3 2 Interior 3 2 1 Drawing room and library 3 2 2 Staircase and first floor 4 Grounds and garden 5 Legends 6 References 6 1 Notes 6 2 Bibliography 7 External linksLocation edit nbsp nbsp Bramshill Houseclass notpageimage Location of Bramshill House in Hampshire Bramshill House is at the approximate centre of a triangle formed by Reading Basingstoke and Farnborough about 47 miles 76 km by road southwest of central London 1 2 It lies to the northeast of Hartley Wintney east of Hazeley off the B3349 road southeast of the village of Bramshill which lies on the B3011 road Three main lanes approach the property Mansion Drive from the B3011 in the southwest Reading Drive South from the B3011 to the east of Bramshill village from the north and the shorter Pheasantry Drive which approaches it from the southeast from Chalwin s Copse just north of the course of the River Hart Within the grounds is a private lane Lower Pool Road which connects Mansion Drive to Reading Drive South passing the pond and several outer buildings The latitudinal and longitudinal location is 51 19 57 9 N 0 54 43 2 W or also 51 332759 0 911991 2 History editOriginal house edit The 1086 Domesday Book lists one of the two manors of Bromeselle the Anglo Norman spelling of Bromshyll as held by Hugh de Port 3 In the early 14th century Sir John Foxley c 1270 c 1325 Baron of the Exchequer 4 built and endowed a chapel in the village of Bramshill 5 His first wife Constance de Bramshill may have been the heiress of the Bramshill family Their son Thomas Foxley c 1305 1360 became MP for Berkshire in 1325 and was appointed constable of Windsor Castle in 1328 soon after the accession of the 14 year old Edward III 6 In 1347 he obtained a licence to build a manor house or small castle at Bramshill which included a 2 500 acre 1 000 ha wooded park 7 The house built between 1351 and 1360 had thick walls vaulted cellars and an internal courtyard measuring 100 by 80 feet 30 by 24 m 6 Based on the similarity of the surviving vaults under Bramshill House and those under what became the servants hall and steward s room at Windsor Castle it may have been a copy of William of Wykeham s work there 8 9 The estate remained in the hands of the Foxley family and their heirs the Essex family 10 until 1499 when it was sold to Giles Daubeney 1st Baron Daubeney Giles s son Henry Daubeney later Earl of Bridgewater sold the property to Henry VIII and in 1547 Edward VI granted the estate to William Paulet whose heirs sold it in 1600 to Sir Stephen Thornhurst of Agnes Court Kent 11 New manor house edit nbsp Lord Zouche bought the property from Sir Stephen Thornhurst in 1605 In March 1605 12 Edward la Zouche 11th Baron Zouche a favourite of James I 13 bought the property from Thornhurst A house was earlier planned on the site for Henry Frederick Prince of Wales 1594 1612 13 whose heraldic feathers are displayed above the central pediment 14 Lord Zouche demolished a large part of the building and began to build the Bramshill House of today Henry Shaw describes the new house which Zouche built as a specimen of Elizabethan sic architecture which merits particular attention exhibiting all the stateliness for which the period referred to was remarkable with a suite of apartments both large and lofty The amplitude of its dimensions indicate a princely residence 15 An inventory taken in 1634 after Zouche s death listed the library as having 250 books and a collection of mathematical instruments and revealed that the maids chamber was of a very high standard 16 James Zouch grandson of Edward la Zouche sold the property to the Earl of Antrim in 1637 at which time the house s furniture was valued at 2 762 17 During the reign of Charles I the house was partly destroyed by a fire On 25 June 1640 Lord Antrim sold Bramshill for 9 500 to Sir Robert Henley 18 In 1673 it was the property of his son Sir Andrew Henley 1st Baronet 19 Sir John Cope purchased the property in 1699 and his descendants occupied the premises until 1935 The Cope family shortened the wings on the south side in 1703 converted most of the chapel to a drawing room and introduced a mezzanine on the west side during the 18th century They were responsible for much of the interior with significant renovation work done in the 19th century and in 1920 20 After his victory over Napoleon the Duke of Wellington was offered his choice of house by Parliament he visited Bramshill but in 1817 chose Stratfield Saye instead 21 Sporting events edit nbsp nbsp Sports on the Troco Terrace in the 17th century Left A game of bowls Right Fencing practice Lithograph and watercolour by Joseph Nash Numerous paintings and prints depict games and social events taking place on the lawn one such painting by Joseph Nash now in the National Fencing Museum depicts 17th century rapier practice with a number of upper class men women and children as spectators 22 The cricket ground at the house first played host to a first class match in 1823 when an early Hampshire team played an England XI Hampshire won by five wickets 23 Two further first class matches were played there in 1825 when Hampshire drew against Godalming and defeated Sussex 24 A final first class match was held there in 1826 when a combined Hampshire and Surrey team played and lost to Sussex 25 Modern times edit In 1935 the house was purchased from the Cope family by Ronald Nall Cain 2nd Baron Brocket the house s last private owner 26 It was used by the Red Cross as a maternity home during the Second World War after which it became the home of the exiled King Michael and Queen Anne of Romania for several years 27 Bramshill House became a Grade I listed building on 8 July 1952 28 29 and was acquired by the British government the following year 30 as a dedicated site for police training 31 It became the location of the National Police College in 1960 32 From 2005 two buildings on the site housed the European Police College CEPOL until this was moved to Budapest in 2014 33 34 By the late 1980s the estate had become expensive to maintain and according to John Wheeler Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee by 1989 it was in a poor state of repair 35 In July 2013 the Home Office placed the house and estate on the market for 25 million It was sold to the heritage property developers City amp Country in August 2014 36 In 2018 the house with a reduced estate of about 90 acres was put back on the market with a guide price of 10 million 37 38 In the 2022 movie Matilda the Musical the house was used as the filming location for the school Crunchem Hall 39 Architecture editExterior edit nbsp The front southern facade of Bramshill HouseThe 15 bedroom 56 974 square feet 5 293 1 m2 Bramshill House is one of the largest and most important Jacobean mansions in England 21 40 described as one of the glories of English architecture by the historians Anthony Blunt and James Lees Milne 41 The architecture of the three storey building was inspired by the Italian Renaissance and was executed mainly by German builders 42 It is approximately 140 feet 43 m in length 19 The design is traditionally attributed to the architect John Thorpe although no records remain to confirm the attribution 43 Surviving records do show that the stone mason Richard Goodridge was working at Bramshill in 1617 and again in 1621 and the authors of the revised Hampshire volume of Pevsner s Buildings of England suggest him as a possible alternative designer 44 The building stands on the edge of a plateau overlooking the park to the south 45 The plan of the house is unusual partly because of its incorporation of the earlier building it extends at right angles to the primary southern facade 43 The elevations are symmetrical facing outwards but the interior court is narrow and projecting wings lie at either end of the eastern and western sides 28 Bramshill House is three storeys high on the southern main entrance side and two storeys high to the north and east There are three vaulted cellars to the west 28 The house is built of red brick laid in English bond dressed with stone with ashlar quoining at the corners of the wings Stone dressings are featured on numerous large mullion windows An open carved parapet surmounts the building 19 The roof consists of red tiles and there are large gables on the west side 43 The chimney stacks are rectangular 28 North and south edit nbsp The central bay and loggia of the south entranceThe north facade has three bays separated by windows and features a loggia typical of early 17th century houses with a central arched entrance to accommodate coaches 43 The central bay is crowned by an ornamental pierced parapet below a niched Dutch gable which shelters a small statue of Lord Zouche 43 46 or James I 47 There are small obelisks at either side of the gable 28 Thorpe originally intended the main entrance of the house to be on this side building on the gatehouse of the earlier Foxley house 48 The southern facade was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as among the most fanciful pieces of Jacobean design in England 40 It is three storeys high and features three sets of three bays in either wing with five inner sections 49 The outer two of the inner sections feature eight angular windows aligned in rows of four on the first two floors and then a row of four windows on the top floor The inner two sections have the same layout on the first and top floors with eight windows aligned in rows of four on the first floor and four windows on the top floor but the ground floor features two arches which form part of the central loggia 49 The stone central bay 20 feet 6 1 m wide is emphasised by superimposed double decorated pilasters on all floors and the central archway of the loggia in the Doric Ionic and Corinthian orders 50 surmounted by a florid perforated pediment In addition there is an oriel window on the first floor above the main entrance 40 47 An important difference from the other sides of this building is a terrace 25 feet 7 6 m in width between the projecting wings a kind of architectural foreground to the garden 47 The terrace is bounded by a 3 foot 3 inch high 0 99 m balustrade 51 The arcade on the terrace of the southern front is a good example of Italian domestic architecture used in villas 52 The triglyphs and ornamented metopes together with the simple capitals of the columns indicate the Doric order but are light enough to be Ionic 53 The south entrance was the model for Darlington 37 the Crocker McMillin Mansion in New Jersey US built between 1901 and 1907 nbsp East front the Troco Terrace is above the basement level brick wall parallel to the facade nbsp The southernmost of two arcaded openings on the Troco Terrace East and west edit The east facade is the longest about 124 feet 38 m wide and two storeys high 47 It features four full height angular bays with two windows between while its upper walls have two arches set within a rectangular panel 28 On this side there is a Troco Terrace with a lawn as well as two arcaded openings at the side on either wing of the house The southernmost arcaded opening contains a bench with eight arches and has three tables one of which is older and octagonal 54 Carved in the wall at the side is a frieze consisting of four squares each depicting an animal a lion an elephant a wild boar and a camel 55 The west facade dates to the 18th century and is the only one with multiple gables 43 the windows on the ground floor are sashed 28 Interior edit nbsp Ground floor plan in the 1880sTwo of the rooms have large tapestries on their walls depicting historical figures and scenes 56 Those in the drawing room contain scenes from Roman history and were based on designs by Peter Paul Rubens who supervised the work in Brussels These tapestries were initially made for Dudley Carleton 1st Viscount Dorchester Zouche s brother diplomat but in the end he rejected them for another set how the first set came to Bramshill is not known Rubens s sketches for the first and last tapestries in the series are in Alte Pinakothek Munich 57 The west section of the ground floor contains the former dining room and kitchen The openings in the wall between the billiard room and the garden room had been blocked up but the rooms were reconnected in the 19th century under Sir William Henry Cope uncovering an original doorway with a four centred pointed arch 58 Cope applied arabesque patterns to the panelling in the garden room which he had traced when two of the bedrooms were being repainted 59 The billiard room has a hidden door leading to the original entrance on the north side of the house through the Foxley gatehouse into the interior courtyard and several doorways remain in the kitchen and housekeeping areas 60 The Great Hall to which an arcaded porch gives direct access retains the basic design of the original construction 61 It has a dais 61 and a Jacobean stone screen 13 feet 4 0 m high decorated with 92 shields Resident families emblazoned the shields with the arms of ancestors and family members 43 62 63 The entablature of the screen has a double row of 40 sculptured shields and has a depth of 2 feet 6 inches 0 76 m 53 Beyond the dais double doors lead into the Terrace Hall at the foot of the staircase 58 Across from this is the former dining room containing a large tapestry believed to have been made by an English artist representing forest scenery in very subdued colours 58 During the time of the Cope family in the 1880s the kitchen near the south hall was used as a dairy The kitchen and the adjoining room had back to back fireplaces 64 Drawing room and library edit nbsp The drawing room in 1903The drawing room containing four bay windows of different sizes is panelled with oak for its entire height of about 16 feet 4 9 m 65 One of the upper panels surmounted by its Corinthian entablature is a frieze depicting a fig grape and pomegranate each with foliage and blossoms One of the lower panels part of the dado in the same room has a section of projecting mouldings The upper panel is 2 feet 10 inches by 2 feet 4 inches 86 m 71 m the lower 2 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 6 inches 79 m 76 m 65 The massive chimneypiece in the drawing room is classically designed believed to be inspired by one of the great Italian architects of 16th century Mannerism Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola 66 It is two storeys in height the lower being Doric and the upper Ionic The distribution of the members is regular and the shafts of the columns are variegated marble The upper compartment of the chimneypiece is composed of separate pieces of the same diversified material and the frieze of the upper order also consists of coloured marble in the centre The fireplace is 6 feet 1 8 m wide and 4 feet 8 inches 1 42 m high and retains the ancient andirons used for burning wood These are large and well adorned particularly in the lower part 66 The ceilings of the drawing room and library are the most elaborate in the house 66 The plaster frieze in the library also displays fine workmanship 1 foot 7 inches 0 48 m wide it is designed in a striking arabesque pattern with an evident Florentine influence 65 In the 1880s the library had a collection of 5 000 volumes about half the number the Cope family owned at the time 67 Staircase and first floor edit nbsp First floor plan in the 1880sThe standards and balusters of the stairs on the north side of the hall came from Eversley Manor House and probably date to the mid 17th century 43 although the treads are original to the house and possibly mid 16th century 61 68 The walls above the stairs and on the first floor landing contain some very large paintings including several portraits 69 Beyond the staircase are the state rooms 69 and what was known as the Wrought Room 59 The room has an ornamental ceiling with a Renaissance chimneypiece 59 Two of the bedrooms the two White Rooms were originally connected to what was called the Flower de luce Room but the doors have been boarded up 70 The Long Gallery fills the first floor of the northern range 126 5 feet 38 6 m long and with a richly decorated stucco ceiling and a complex wooden chimneypiece 71 it formerly contained a very curious collection of portraits of distinguished characters 15 72 Also on the first floor is the Chapel Drawing Room in the south wing connected to the Drawing Room 73 The Copes created this room by reducing the size of the original chapel which is entered through it 74 The current chapel has an altar reredos with paintings of the Virgin Mary St Stephen St Mary Magdalene and St John the Evangelist by Alexander Rowan and dated by Pevsner to about 1840 71 75 The tapestry in the chapel room is older than the house and was assessed by an expert as dating to 1450 or earlier in the early 19th century it had hung in the Red Drawing Room 76 When the chapel ceiling was restored by Sir William Cope it was discovered that one section of the plaster work had previously been replaced with carved wood 76 The large window in the south wall of the courtyard was presumably moved from the original chapel 71 Grounds and garden edit nbsp View of Bramshill House from its grounds to the south nbsp Gate of the park 1899The house is set in 262 acres 106 ha of grounds 77 which include an 18 acre 7 3 ha lake north of the house 78 The grounds form part of a Registered Historic Park that received a Grade II listing in 1984 this was subsequently upgraded to Grade I in September 2017 Under this designation are the 25 acres 10 ha of early 17th century formal gardens near the house the wider 490 acre 200 ha medieval park landscaped from the 17th to the 20th century with 250 acres 100 ha of woodland 79 and buildings including an icehouse and a folly known as Conduit House 77 Parts of the park have been used for commercial softwood production since the 19th century 79 To the west of the house is Peatmoor Copse and to the east Bramshill Forest 2 and the grounds contained what was known as the Green Court and the Flower Garden at the time of William Henry Cope in the 1880s The Grade I listed gatehouse dates to the time of the Foxleys 80 The fir trees in the grounds are reputed to have been planted as a memento of his former home by James I who brought them from Scotland 72 81 The formal gardens were first laid out by Edward la Zouche a horticulturist Sir John Cope redesigned the gardens and continued the planting of trees in the park At the close of the 18th century the grounds were re landscaped to be less formal and some areas in the south were returned to parkland 9 nbsp Main entranceBramshill Park was conceived as a hunting box for Henry Frederick and became a popular estate for hunting 72 On 24 July 1621 while hunting in the park George Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury accidentally shot and killed one of the gamekeepers with his crossbow 12 An inquiry cleared him of murder 65 Another notable clergyman hunter who frequented Bramshill was Charles Kingsley rector of Eversley 82 who hunted fox and deer and collected butterflies there 83 and frequently took his family and friends 84 Kingsley was reportedly especially enamoured of the fir trees which he considered a source of constant delight 81 fondly naming them James the First s gnarled giants 85 In the 19th century Sir John Cope a friend of Kingsley s was known as a supporter of the fox hunt and especially as a breeder of fox hounds 86 87 The opening of the season at Bramshill in the late 1840s was noted in the British hunting press 88 The main avenue approaches from the southwest through an arched gateway formed by two Grade II listed early 19th century lodges 89 before crossing the Broad Water formed by the River Hart by a Grade I listed early 19th century bridge with two arches 90 There are separate listings for other structures near the house including the Grade I listed early 17th century triple arched gateway on the route to Reading to the northeast of the house 91 Grade I listed early 17th century boundary walls and turrets to the south and west 92 Grade II listed boundary walls and gate piers to the west including the kitchen garden 93 Grade I listed garden walls and gateways to the north and east 94 and the Grade II listed late 18th century stable block to the north 95 Legends editBramshill has been cited as one of the most haunted houses in England 96 97 According to one UK police officer who worked at the college 14 ghosts have purportedly been identified although another officer at the college did not take these suggestions seriously 27 They include a Grey Lady one story suggests that her husband a religious dissenter was beheaded in the 17th century and a Green Man a Cope family member who either drowned in the lake in 1806 according to the journalist P Lal or threw himself off a cliff near Brighton according to the author Penny Legg 27 98 The Green Man dressed as his name suggests reportedly manifests near the lake as does the ghost supposed to be that of a gardener who drowned there 98 The Grey Lady allegedly haunts the terrace the library and the chapel Legg suggests that she has a young and beautiful appearance with a sad tear stained face and golden hair and smelling of the lilies of the valley Lal argues that she has reddish brown hair and wears a grey sleeveless robe 27 99 The Grey Lady s husband has been reported to haunt the stables and the chapel drawing room The ghost of a young child allegedly haunts the library and the Fleur de Lys room the child has supposedly been heard crying and attempts to hold visitors hands Folklore holds that the Grey Lady was the child s mother 99 A lady dressed in the style of Queen Anne and a knight in armour are reported to have been seen in the chapel drawing room The chapel itself is purportedly frequented by the ghost of a lady in 17th century dress and by that of a nun A young man dressed in 1920s tennis garb reputed to be a Cope family member who fell from a train has supposedly been seen in the reception area of the house A small boy documented to haunt the terrace is said to have fallen from the roof sometime in the 18th century 98 In addition Bramshill House was cited by the historian William Page as a possible location for the Legend of the Mistletoe Bough a ghost story associated with several English country mansions 7 This legend tells of a bride who supposedly hid in a wooden chest during a game of hide and seek on her wedding night In the case of Bramshill House the story has it that this happened at Christmas time and that the bride was found fifty years later still wearing her wedding dress and with a sprig of mistletoe in her hand the chest is on display in the entrance hall 27 The woman is sometimes identified as John Cope s daughter Anne who married Hugh Bethell of Yorkshire 100 An alternative claim is that she was Genevre Orsini who was married in 1727 and that her ghost came to Bramshill from Italy together with the chest 27 In his monograph on the house the Victorian writer Sir William Cope preferred this theory and added that the chest on display was not the original which had been proved large enough by a woman of comely proportions who had tested it by lying down in it but which had been taken away by Sir Denzil Cope s widow in 1812 101 The ghost of the bride is referred to as the White Lady and she is said by Legg to haunt the Fleur de Lys room 102 According to Legg Michael I of Romania asked to be moved to another room during a stay there in order to not be disturbed by the young woman in white who passed through his bedroom every night 99 An old man with a grey beard thought by Legg to be the father or husband of the White Lady is reported to stare through windows and at the Mistletoe Chest 99 References edit nbsp This article incorporates text from publications now in the public domain Henry Shaw s Details of Elizabethan Architecture 1839 and Sir William Henry Cope s Bramshill Its History amp Architecture 1883 Notes edit Ordnance Survey 1 50 000 Landranger Series of Great Britain Map 1 50 000 Ordnance Survey Retrieved 19 July 2013 a b c Google 8 August 2013 Bramshill House Map Google Maps Google Retrieved 8 August 2013 Bramshill Hampshire Gazetteer JandMN 2001 Retrieved 12 January 2015 Ford David Nash Biographies John Foxley d 1325 Royal Berkshire History Retrieved 23 July 2013 Jeans 1906 pp 237 38 a b Ford David Nash Biographies Thomas Foxley d 1360 Royal Berkshire Society Retrieved 23 July 2013 a b Page 1911 pp 32 41 Cope 1883 p 18 a b Places amp People National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens 17 October 2010 Archived from the original on 4 July 2018 Retrieved 19 July 2013 Cope 1883 p 9 Cope 1883 pp 9 11 a b Cope 1883 p 11 a b Allen 1873 pp 313 25 Cox 1904 p 85 a b Shaw 1839 p 34 Cliffe 1999 pp 104 163 Cliffe 1999 p 39 Cope 1883 p 14 a b c Shaw 1839 p 35 Pevsner amp Lloyd 1967 pp 139 40 a b Sager 1996 p 159 Malcolm Fare s Collection British Veteran s Fencing Retrieved 20 July 2013 Hampshire v England 1823 CricketArchive Retrieved 31 December 2011 First Class Matches played on Bramshill Park CricketArchive Retrieved 31 December 2011 Hampshire and Surrey v Sussex 1826 CricketArchive Retrieved 31 December 2011 Churchill Penny 25 July 2013 Jacobean Country Houses for Sale Country Life Retrieved 2 August 2013 a b c d e f Lal P 16 January 2000 Playing Host to Many a Ghost The Tribune Chandigarh India Retrieved 26 July 2013 a b c d e f g Bramshill House Bramshill British Listed Buildings Retrieved 20 July 2013 Historic England Bramshill House 1340025 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 25 July 2013 Lucas Tooth Hugh 2 April 1953 College Permanent Site Parliamentary Debates Hansard Retrieved 19 July 2013 Lloyd George Gwilym 31 March 1955 Police Recruitment and Conditions Parliamentary Debates Hansard Retrieved 19 July 2013 Hirschel Wakefield amp Sasse 2007 p 125 Gregory Chris 21 May 2011 Brighter Future for Police College Basingstoke Gazette Retrieved 19 July 2013 CEPOL Moving to Budapest Council of the European Union 6 May 2014 Retrieved 26 November 2017 Wheeler John 6 July 1989 Common Police Services Parliamentary Debates Hansard Retrieved 19 July 2013 City amp Country acquires Police College at Bramshill in Hampshire Property Magazine International Retrieved 28 August 2014 a b Magnificent Mammoth Mansion 10m Bramshill House Hampshire The Steeple Times 7 August 2018 Retrieved 26 March 2019 10 bedroom house for sale in Bramshill Mansion Bramshill Hook Hampshire RG27 www knightfrank com Retrieved 26 March 2019 De Semlyen Phil 3 January 2023 Matilda the Musical s Crunchem Hall is a real place and you can visit it Time Out Worldwide Retrieved 1 July 2023 a b c Pevsner amp Lloyd 1967 p 138 Blunt amp Lees Milne 2001 p 168 Tanner amp Galsworthy Davie 1903 p 15 a b c d e f g h Pevsner amp Lloyd 1967 p 139 Bullen et al 2010 p 197 Public Consultation Bramshill House Hampshire City amp Country Retrieved 12 January 2015 Cope 1883 p 29 a b c d Shaw 1839 p 36 Cope 1883 pp 29 30 a b Bramshill House Geograph Retrieved 20 July 2013 Cope 1883 p 26 Shaw 1839 pp 36 37 Shaw 1839 p 37 a b Shaw 1839 p 38 Bramshill House Troco Terrace Geograph Retrieved 20 July 2013 Bramshill House Troco Terrace Geograph Retrieved 20 July 2013 Tripp 2002 p 134 Cope 1883 pp 43 48 a b c Cope 1883 p 39 a b c Cope 1883 p 54 Cope 1883 pp 40 41 a b c Salvan 2005 p 497 Cope 1883 pp 38 120 21 C E L 1843 p 60 note b Cope 1883 p 129 a b c d Shaw 1839 p 39 a b c Shaw 1839 p 40 Cope 1883 p 49 Cope 1883 p 42 a b Bramshill House 9331 Country Life Retrieved 20 July 2013 Cope 1883 p 53 a b c Pevsner amp Lloyd 1967 p 140 a b c Kingsley 1885 pp 129 32 Cope 1883 p 43 Cope 1883 p 56 Cope 1883 p 57 a b Cope 1883 p 60 a b Bramshill Hook Hampshire RG27 pdf brochure Knight Frank 2013 Retrieved 23 July 2013 Borrell amp Cashinella 1975 p 176 a b Historic England Bramshill Park 1000165 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Cope 1883 p 30 a b Evershed 1887 p 103 Charles Kingsley and Bramshill House The Police College Journal 8 3 202 07 1964 Archived from the original on 1 June 2015 Ribblesdale amp Burrows 1897 pp 160 63 Kingsley 1877 p 438 Smith 1887 pp 511 49 Cecil 1849a pp 319 25 Cecil 1852 pp 35 41 Cecil 1849b pp 416 25 Historic England Lodges to Bramshill House 1092207 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Historic England High Bridge 1091941 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Historic England Gateway to Bramshill House 1091938 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Historic England Walls and Turrets South of Bramshill House 1091939 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Historic England Walls and Gate Piers to West of Bramshill House 1091940 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Historic England Garden Walls and Gateways North of Bramshill House 1340026 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Historic England Stable Block at Bramshill House 1340027 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 23 July 2013 Jacobean country houses for sale Country Life 23 July 2013 Retrieved 23 February 2015 Legg 2010 p 48 a b c Legg 2010 p 52 a b c d Legg 2010 p 51 Cope 1883 pp 77 91 Cope 1883 pp 51 52 Legg 2010 pp 49 50 Bibliography edit Allen E W 28 June 1873 The Castles Halls and Manor Houses of England Bramshill Hampshire The Antiquary 3 69 313 15 Blunt Anthony Lees Milne James 2001 Spread of the Renaissance England Tudor and Jacobean In John Julius Norwich ed Great Architecture of the World Da Capo pp 168 69 ISBN 978 0 306 81042 8 Borrell Clive Cashinella Brian 1975 Crime in Britain Today Routledge ISBN 978 0 7100 8232 9 Bullen Michael Crook John Hubbuck Rodney Pevsner Nikolaus 2010 Hampshire Winchester And The North The Buildings of England Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 12084 4 Cecil 1849a Notes of the Chase The Sporting Magazine Cecil 1849b Notes of the Chase The Sporting Review Cecil January 1852 The Friends to Fox Hunting Both Great and Small The New Sporting Magazine Cliffe John Trevor 1999 The World of the Country House in Seventeenth Century England Yale ISBN 978 0 300 07643 1 Cope Sir William Henry 1883 Bramshill Its History amp Architecture PDF London Infield OCLC 7444327 Cox John Charles 1904 Hampshire The Little Guides Methuen p 85 OCLC 2143241 Evershed Henry 1887 Canon Kingsley as a Naturalist and Country Clergyman The Living Age 172 98 104 Hirschel J David Wakefield William Sasse Scott 2007 Criminal Justice in England and the United States Jones and Bartlett ISBN 978 0 7637 4112 9 Jeans George Edward 1906 Memorials of Old Hampshire Bemrose and Sons Kingsley Charles 1877 Charles Kingsley His Letters and Memories of His Life Edited by His Wife Scribner Armstrong and Co Kingsley Rose G 1885 The Children of Westminster Abbey In Pratt Ella Farman Pratt Charles Trowbridge eds Wide Awake Vol 21 D Lothrop Legg Penny 2010 Folklore of Hampshire The History Press ISBN 978 0 7524 5179 4 C E L 1843 Church Notes on Hampshire Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica 8 43 66 Page William ed 1911 Parishes Eversley A History of the County of Hampshire Vol 4 Constable amp Co Pevsner Nikolaus Lloyd David Wharton 1967 Hampshire and the Isle of Wight The Buildings of England Vol 32 Penguin OCLC 484927 Ribblesdale Baron Thomas Lister Burrows Edward 1897 The Queen s Hounds and Stag hunting Recollections Longmans Green amp Co p 160 Sager Peter 1996 Sudengland von Kent bis Cornwall Architektur und Landschaft Literatur und Geschichte DuMont Kunst Reisefuhrer in German DuMont ISBN 978 3 7701 3498 4 Salvan George Salinda 2005 Architectural Character amp The History of Architecture 3rd ed Goodwill Trading ISBN 978 971 12 0262 0 Shaw Henry 1839 Details of Elizabethan Architecture Elizabethan Architecture and its ornamental details By T Moule William Pickering p 34 OCLC 620865 Smith John 1887 On the Present State and Future Prospects of Arboriculture in Hampshire Scottish Forestry Journal 11 511 44 Tanner Henry Galsworthy Davie W 1903 Old English Doorways A series of historical examples from Tudor times to the end of the XVIII century B T Batsford p 15 Tripp Miles 2002 The Eighth Passenger A Flight of Recollection and Discovery Wordsworth ISBN 978 1 84022 252 4 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bramshill House Historical detail concerning Bramshill House Bramshill House Photographs courtesy of Geoff Cheshire Pbase Bramshill House Bramshill Hook Hampshire at KnightFrank website Properties at Bramshill House Archived 28 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine at City amp Country website51 19 51 N 0 54 44 W 51 33083 N 0 91222 W 51 33083 0 91222 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bramshill House amp oldid 1181494612, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.