Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
Our second visit to Bramall. It really is an impressive house and one of my all-time favourites. It has unique features. But from the moment you enter you feel not only its history but its homely qualities. It feels as if it has been loved - by different generations, different families. And Stockport Council, now its guardian, seemingly run it on a shoestring. It deserves more. When we visited today, the grounds and cafe were surprisingly busy. It is after all a local green resource. But apart from one other elderly couple just exiting we were the only people looking round the house itself. Surely it ought to be better known, better marketed. Surely the house should be one of the North-West's most visited jewels? One of Cheshire's grandest black and white houses, the oldest parts date from the late 14th century, with later renovations dating from the 16th and 19th centuries. After talking to two friendly and knowledgeable staff in the entrance hall we set off on our exploration. This time it was the details we looked at particularly. The fine glass incorporating some medieval pieces... The family paintings I thought were reproductions but which are not.... and things like the door hinges, everyone individually crafted. not to mention some very fine door furniture.......a lot of all this installed by the Victorian owner of Bramall Hall, Charles Nevill, who evidently liked the Arts and Craft Movement. The chapel, opposite the Banqueting Hall, was the only place of public worship in Bramhall until the 19th century.[Its existence was first recorded in 1541, when it was referred to in the will of the second William Davenport. The Ten Commandments are written on the west wall. Underneath the Commandments, an older, pre-Reformation Passion painting, is visible which was whitewashed over during the Reformation. Here behind the pulpit 'Rabboni' by Herbert Schmalz. Schmalz was a talented Pre-Raphaelite artist born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to an English mother and German father. Schmalz was supported in his early days by Charles Nevill of Bramall Hall where several other works by Schmalz can still be seen. After the First World War Nevill’s business suffered and despite being forced to sell many of his possessions, including Bramall Hall, he opted to donate two of his prized Schmalz paintings to local churches. ‘Rabboni’ was given to St Paul’s in Portwood which closed in 1971 when the painting was given back to Bramall Hall where it now graces the chapel. Mary of Magdela was given to Christ Church in Chester where it can still be seen. I loved this knot in the wood of one of the pews...... So far I have been unable to find out anything about the Davenport pew with its charming carvings....... In the solar are the very rare 16th-century wall murals, including one whichmay depict the nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse", and another along the east wall depicting a man playing a mandolin. The walls were painted, most likely, in the 1538 for the wedding of William Davenport with Margaret Booth. It was a way to impress their guests, and cheaper than tapestries. The framework of the house is constructed with oak timbers, joined together using mortise and tenon joints and held in place with oak pegs. Wattle and daub or lath and plaster were used to fill the spaces between the timbers, and they have left an example on show. The Bramall Hall heraldic table carpet is a rare survival of a once commonplace object, and a splendid example of the high art of Elizabethan embroidery. More than 17 feet long by 7 feet wide, it is embroidered around the margins with thirty coats of arms.On three sides there are impalements of Davenport marital arms, while on the fourth side are the coats of families allied to the Davenports. In the centre of a large expanse of intricately woven floral patterned textile are three large coats of arms each encircled by the Order of the Garter. These comprise the royal arms flanked by those of two peers of the realm. The heraldry suggests that this important work was created during the lifetime of Sir William III Davenport (d.1576). it would have been used as a decorative cover for the high table in the Great Hall. The impressive plaster ceiling in the Withdrawing Room has been repaired and re-painted. It was the height of Elizabethan fashion, and shows how wealthy the Davenports had become. Each pendant is finished with a different hand-moulded boss. The beautiful armorial shows Queen Elizabeth's arms. The hall was home to the Davenport family for more than 500 years, before it was sold to Charles and Mary Nevill in the 1880s, who strove to maintain its original features whilst putting their own unique Victorian stamp on it. Here is Mary's boudoir...... The kitchen has a particularly homely feel. We spent quite a long time inside and listened to most of the excellent A-V displays. On such a nice day it was good to then wander around the grounds. Pleasant, but needing a lot of work. On the way back we dived into Derbyshire and had a look around the pretty Marple Bridge......
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