Bradgate House (around 1490)

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The ruins of Bradgate House

Bradgate House is the ruin of a country house in Bradgate Park in the English county of Leicestershire .

history

Edward Grey's son, Sir John Gray of Groby , married Elizabeth Woodville , who took King Edward IV as her second husband after Sir John Grey's death . Her son, Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset , got ready to build the first Bradgate House at the end of the 15th century, but died before the work began. His son, Thomas Gray, 2nd Marquess of Dorset , then carried out his father's plan around 1490 and so the first house was completed around 1520.

The Gothic complex is one of the first unfortified country mansions in England and one of the first brick buildings after Roman times.

The Gray family lived there for the next 220 years. Lady Jane Gray is said to have been born in the house , who later became Queen of England for 9 days and was overthrown by the future Queen Maria I. Jane Gray was executed in 1553, and when her father was also executed a year later, the property fell to the Crown. The local story goes that local groundskeepers remembered Jane's execution by cutting down the oak trees in the park like a beheading. You can still see pruned oak trees in the park today.

In 1563, the Gray family regained the mercy of the king and the manor of Groby, including Bradgate Park, was returned to Jane Grey's uncle, Lord John Gray of Pirgo . His great-grandson was named Earl of Stamford . Later Earls acquired properties in Enville , Staffordshire and Durham Massey , Cheshire .

The ruins of the chapel and tower of Bradgate House

Sometime after 1739 the Grays left Bradgate House, which then slowly fell into disrepair. The spectacular ruins of the house can still be seen in the middle of Bradgate Park today.

In the middle of the 19th century, when the Gray family wanted to live in this area again, they had a new house built about three kilometers southwest of the old ruin. It was also called Bradgate House and was demolished in the 1920s when the family sold the property.

description

The house was about 60 meters long and had a knight's hall measuring 24 meters by 9 meters. Today you can still see extensive ruins of walls and open chimneys, as well as four broken towers. The chapel is still intact. It contains the graves of Henry Gray, 1st Earl of Stamford , and his wife, whose images can be seen on the grave slabs.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anthony E. Squires: The Grays: A Long and Noble Line . Silk Press Books, 2002. ISBN 1-902685-10-5 . P. 41.
  2. ^ Bradgate Park: the History of Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood .
  3. ^ A b c Anthony E. Squires: The Medieval Parks of Charnwood Forest . Chapter: Groby Manor - Bradgate Park . Sycamore Press, 1986.
  4. ^ J. Chandler (editor): John Leland's itinerary: travels in Tudor England . 1993.
  5. ^ J. Nichols: The history and antiquities of the county of Leicester . 4 volumes. 1795-1815.
  6. ^ Mary Forsyth: The History of Bradgate . The Bradgate Park Trust, 1974.
  7. ^ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England . Chapter: Leicestershire and Rutland . Penguin Books, 1960.

Web links

Commons : Bradgate House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 41 ′ 11.7 "  N , 1 ° 12 ′ 40.2"  W.