The History of Bramall Hall

Origin of the name Bramall

In the Domesday book the manor of Bramall is called Bramale, a name which comes from the Old English words 'brom' meaning broom, and 'halh' meaning secret place, generally near water.

The current name was chosen as the spelling closest to this Domesday version. It was favoured both by the Hall's Victorian owner, Charles Nevill, and by Hazel Grove and Bramhall Urban District Council who took over the hall in 1935.Following local government reorganisation in 1974, the estate became the responsibility of Stockport Council, who still manage and care for the Hall today.

A Thousand Years of history

Bramall Hall is one of Cheshire's grandest black and white timber-framed buildingsIt is a manor house built in the traditional local style. The framework is constructed with oak timbers, joined together using mortice and tenon joints and held in place with oak pegs. Wattle and daub (interlaced twigs crudely coated with clay) or lath (thin narrow strops of wood) and plaster were used to fill the spaces between the timbers.Before the Norman Conquest in 1066, Bramall was held as two separate manors, owned by two Saxon freemen Brun and Hacun. Around 1070 William the Conqueror subdued the North of England and he gave both parts of the Bramall land to one of his followers, Hamon de Masci, the first Baron of Dunham Massey. The land at that time was probably a waste, having been devastated during William the Conqueror's harsh subdual of the North West. During the next 800 years just three families would own the estate: the Masseys, the de Bromales and the Davenports.