Historic hall has reopened
HISTORIC Bramall Hall reopened over the weekend after a major £1.6 million restoration.
The Grade I listed building has been closed for almost two years to allow works to be carried out in almost every room of the striking timber framed house.
Experts have spent months painstakingly restoring the 700-year-old building.
The team has also installed interactive voice and video guides, so visitors can discover more about each room.
Bramall 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.
It was later sold to businessman John Henry Davies in 1925, before his widow sold it to Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District Council in the 1930s.
The home’s huge Withdrawing Room inspired the entire project, after the council applied for £400,000 of funding to repair and restore its ornate ceiling.
The Heritage Lottery Fund however, were keen to see what could be done to restore the rest of the house, and made a grant of £1.6m.
Over the past 22 months, the building’s numerous lead stained glass windows have been carefully restored by hand by Burnley firm Pendle Stained Glass.
They sought to preserve as many original panes as possible, by reinforcing them with extra leading, and only fully replaced panes which were completely beyond repair with contemporary replacements.
The home’s chapel, meanwhile, will be used for concerts, but due to strict rules it will not be allowed to host religious wedding ceremonies – because the venue already hosts secular wedding services.
Upstairs, the hall is home to the Solar Room, which houses what is considered to be one of the only full suites of medieval paintings in the country.
The remarkable inkings were uncovered in the late 1880s by the Nevills, and are open to the public.
Project manager Alison Farthing said: “The paintings depict a code for living that is highly ordered and moral. In contrast, this would have been a room for drinking, feasting and other things that are counter to the moral code depicted on the walls”.
Next door, Alison and her team have re-interpreted the Nevill Room in tribute to former master of the house.
The design and furniture of the room have been designed to reflect Charles Nevill’s love for travelling and fishing, arranged around a huge billiards table in the centre.
Alison added: “Before, it was just another historic room, but we wanted to tell the story of Charles Nevill”.
The adjoining Plaster Room features a huge table carpet, dating back to around 1560, which has been lovingly restored to its former glory and is now carefully preserved in a special £20,000 cabinet.
The Paradise Room, which is more commonly known as ‘the Ghost Room’, would have been Dorothy Davenport’s bedchamber.
Many staff and visitors have reported sightings of a ghostly apparition in the room, which always feels cold and occasionally smells of smoke, despite the fire not being lit in years.
On the third floor, Alison and her team were keen to make sure Mary Nevill, who was an avid writer and philanthropist, was properly represented in her boudoir, and sought out some of her original belongings to reinstate them in the room.
Alison said: “Mary was a fundraiser, diarist and prolific correspondent. She would have had an important role in the life of Bramall.
“She had been thought of as the wife of a very powerful man, but we wanted to show that she was a person in her own right”.
On the ground floor, a room in the Victorian extension, which until now has always been closed to the public, will be opened up for the first time.
It has been re imagined as a Victorian butler’s pantry and is decorated in pink tones, which were traditionally considered to be masculine colours in Victorian times.
Meanwhile, the room which was once the gift shop has been transformed back into a dining room.
The room’s decor was inspired by a piece of original wallpaper, which was discovered behind a panel.
The team spent months painstakingly replicating the texture and colour of the wallpaper, and finished the room with period pieces.
The work in the room was funded by The Friends of Bramall Hall, who raised £30,000 to support the project.
Outside meanwhile, the dilapidated former stable block has been transformed beyond recognition into a stylish visitors centre, with a cafe, gift shop and education areas for school and community groups.
Councillor Kate Butler, Stockport Council’s executive member for economy and regeneration, said: “Bramall Hall’s re-
opening is exciting news and we can’t wait for visitors to step inside this wonderful building once more. It is the jewel in the crown of Stockport’s heritage and loved by so many people”.
The hall is open from Tuesdays to Thursdays from 1pm to 5pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 1pm to 4pm. Tickets can be bought at the new visitors centre. ●●THE spelling of Bramall Hall’s name has occasionally caused confusion.
Unlike Bramhall itself and Bramhall Park, Bramall does not contain the letter ‘h’.
The name Bramall is thought to come from the old English words ‘Brom’ and ‘Halh’.
Charles Nevil was said to prefer the ‘h’ free spelling, believing it to be closer to the way it appears in the Domesday Book.
The council settled on the spelling soon after it entered public ownership.