Bradgate House - Bradgate Park, Leicestershire - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

An information board inside the ruins of a tudor mansion house and chapel. They were built in c1490 by Thomas Grey, 1st Marquis of Dorset. It was one of the earliest unfortified brick houses to be built in this country. The Ruins are protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England.

Although viewable from outside the ruins, Bradgate House is open for public viewing across a number of weekends throughout the year.

Bradgate House Ruins Viewing Days - (visit link)


"Bradgate House is a 16th-century ruin in Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, England.

Edward Grey's son Sir John Grey of Groby married Elizabeth Woodville, who, after John's death married King Edward IV. Their son Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset made preparations for building the first Bradgate House in the late 15th century but died before work began. It was his son, Thomas Grey, 2nd marquis of Dorset who built the first Bradgate House, completing it circa 1520. This is one of the first unfortified great houses in England and one of the earliest post-Roman use of bricks. It was lived in by the Grey family for the next 220 years. It is believed that the house was the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, later Queen, ruling for a mere 9 days before being overthrown by Mary I. Jane was executed in 1553 and when her father was executed the following year the estate passed to the crown. Local history claims that groundskeepers marked the occasion of Jane's execution by pollarding the estate's oak trees in a symbolic beheading. Examples of pollarded oaks can still be seen in the park. In 1563 the family regained favour, and the Groby manor, including Bradgate, was restored to Jane's Uncle, Lord John Grey of Pirgo. His great-grandson was made Earl of Stamford. Later earls acquired estates in Enville, Staffordshire, and Dunham Massey, Cheshire.
Bradgate House's ruined chapel and tower

Sometime after 1739 they moved out of Bradgate, which began a long decline. The spectacular ruins of the house are still visible at the centre of the park. The house was approximately 200 feet (61 m) long, featuring a main hall measuring 80 by 30 feet (24.4 m × 9.1 m). As well as considerable remains of walls and fireplaces, it has four truncated towers and the chapel is still intact, containing a tomb effigy to Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford and his wife.

In the mid-19th century, when the Grey family again wished to stay in the area, they built a new hall, which they also called Bradgate House, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the southwest, which was demolished after the Grey estates were finally sold in the 1920s."

SOURCE - (visit link)

The text on the info board reads:
'The most famous resident of Bradgate House was Lady Jane Grey, who was born here in 1537. But this magnificent Tudor country house is remarkable for more than being the childhood home of the Nine Days Queen of England.
Bradgate House was one of the earliest unfortified mansions to be built in England and one of the first great houses to be built of brick rather than stone. The clay for the bricks was dug from pits on the Bradgate estate.
It was started by Thomas Grey, 1st Marquis of Dorset, in about 1499 and after he died, completed by his son, also Thomas, by 1520. Further additions were made some 20 years later and also in the 1600's.
The completed house consisted of two main storeys with attics and was about 200 feet in length from east to west with two wings joined by a Great Hall and parlour on the north side. It was built of bricks, made nearby in the Park, together with sandstone dressings on the towers, doorways and window openings.
The west wing was occupied by the great kitchen, bakery and servants' quarters. The east wing contained the chapel and the family apartments.
The house suffered damage when the first wife of the 2nd Earl of Stamford set fire to the north-west Tower but it was repaired in time for the visit, in 1696, of William III.
Bradgate House ceased to be lived in after the death of the 2nd Earl in 1719. By 1790 it was in ruin and slowly falling into decay through neglect and vandalism. In recent years the decay has been arrested and the Ruins are now preserved by the Bradgate Park Trust.
Because the house was in decline by the time the fashion for landscape architecture took hold in the 18th Century, the ruins of Bradgate House `stand in parkland that still retains much of the wild and untamed aspect that it had when Thomas Grey set about building his country seat here in 1499.'

Type of Historic Marker: Information board and map Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Bradgate Park Trust Give your Rating: Age/Event Date: Not listed Related Website: Not listed

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