South of Manchester, Bramall Hall is one of the finest timber-framed manors of the North-West: a long house of black wood and white plaster, enlarged through the Renaissance by the Davenport family, who held it for nearly five centuries.
A timbered Davenport manor
Look at the front: the blackened oak frame draws diamonds, saltires and quatrefoils across the plaster, in the decorative exuberance typical of Tudor Cheshire — the same family of manors as nearby Little Moreton Hall. The house is arranged around a court; the Great Hall is its heart, with its open roof timbers. The Davenports, local lords, enlarged and adorned Bramall in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Rediscovered wall paintings
Bramall's hidden treasure is its Tudor wall paintings: long concealed beneath plaster and panelling, they were rediscovered and show sixteenth-century religious and decorative motifs. Look too for the Withdrawing Room with its plaster ceiling, and the chapel. The house, bought by the local council in the twentieth century, is open to visitors. Don't miss: the timbered front, the Great Hall, the Tudor wall paintings, the chapel, the park.
Did you know?
Bramall's wall paintings slept under layers of plaster and panelling added in later centuries: thought lost, they were found beneath the coverings. In Tudor times, painting walls directly — pious scenes, mock hangings, patterns — was common; what is rare is that these survived, protected by the very thing that hid them.
Info
Bramall Hall is at Bramhall, Stockport (Greater Manchester); a council-owned property, house and park open to the public. Seasonal hours to be checked.