Bradshaw House - Congleton, Cheshire, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

The blue plaque is located on the site of John Bradshaw's House on Lawton Road in Congleton.

Bradshaw House is a Grade II listed late-Georgian house from the 1820's in the heart of Congleton. It takes its name from perhaps Congleton's most famous - or infamous - former resident, the regicide John Bradshaw, whose former house stood on the same site. The house is owned by Cheshire East Council but is currently unoccupied.

The blue plaque is situated on the wall in front of the property and is inscribed as follows;

'CONGLETON CIVIC SOCIETY
BRADSHAW HOUSE
SITE OF
JOHN BRADSHAW'S HOUSE.
DEMOLISHED 1820.
BRADSHAW (1602 - 58)
WAS PRESIDENT OF THE COURT
WHICH CONDEMNED
CHARLES 1 TO DEATH.'

"Bradshaw House
The Georgian town house was built in 1820. It replaced a house that had been occupied by John Bradshaw, Congleton Mayor in 1637, and president of the court that sentenced King Charles 1 to death.
The current Bradshaw House is a fine example of a merchant’s town house but bears no resemblance to the house that was lived in by John Bradshaw. An existing drawing shows this to have been a fine timbered house with many windows and decorative work over the gables.
The Lowndes family, who built the second Bradshaw House, may also have built the Bath House which sits behind the house in a garden that was once owned by John Bradshaw." Source: (visit link)

"Bradshaw served as mayor of Congleton but eventually left for London. After a spell as Chief Justice in Chester he returned to London. He was an ardent supporter of Parliament, both during the Civil War and later when he fell out with Cromwell over the latter’s conduct in assuming the role of Protector and dismissing the Rum Parliament. He is best known, however, for his role as President of the Court at the trial of King Charles I. Charles refused to plead as he did not recognise the legitimacy of the Court and there is controversy about whether it was a fair and legitimate trial.
Bradshaw was not first choice as President of the Court, but others refused to serve. He wore an iron-lined hat and had a bodyguard against the threat of execution. The hat is in the Ashmolean Museum. Bradshaw’s name headed the list of signatories. Bradshaw died in 1659. After the Restoration, his body, like those of Ireton and Cromwell, was exhumed, hung on the gallows at Tyburn, and then beheaded. The bodies were then flung into a common pit and the heads were mounted on pikes and displayed at Westminster Hall where Samuel Pepys recorded that he had seen them. Source: (visit link) (visit link)

Blue Plaque managing agency: Congleton Civic Society Individual Recognized: John Bradshaw Physical Address: 21, Lawton Road, Congleton,Cheshire, England, UK. CW12 1RU Web Address: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/17/2019 Mike_bjm visited it