Bromley Hall facts for kids
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Bromley Hall is a really old house in London, built during the Tudor period. It's located in Bromley-by-Bow, in an area called Tower Hamlets. This amazing building, built around 1485, is believed to be the oldest brick house in all of London! Today, it's owned and looked after by a group called Leaside Regeneration.
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What is Bromley Hall?
Bromley Hall is thought to be the oldest brick house in London. It was built by a religious group called Holy Trinity Priory in the 1490s. They built it on top of the foundations of a much older house from the 1100s. You can still see these old foundations in the cellar today!
Scientists looked at the tree rings in the wood used to build the Hall. They found it was built around 1485. This was the same time as the Battle of Bosworth Field, which led to Henry Tudor becoming king and starting the Tudor period.
Early on, experts from English Heritage and the Museum of London discovered something cool. The building was once home to John Blount. He was an important person in the court of King Henry VIII. His daughter, Elizabeth Blount, was also known to the King.
Royal Connections
In 1531, during a time called the Dissolution of the Monasteries, King Henry VIII took over the Hall. This was part of a big change in England called the English Reformation. The King then made Bromley Hall a fancy place for himself.
He decorated the Hall with beautiful tapestries and paintings. The area around the Hall was a popular spot for hunting, a favorite pastime for the King. Even after many years, you can still see parts of the original decorations. These include a carved hunting scene, wooden beams from the 1490s with their original leather pieces for hanging tapestries, and old Tudor windows. There are also three wall paintings from the 1400s and 1500s.
From the 1400s, this building was the main house for the Lower Bromley area. At first, people thought the building on Gillender Street was just a gatehouse. But the Museum of London later confirmed it was the main Hall itself, built between 1482 and 1495.
Later Uses of the Hall
Bromley Hall has been used for many different things over the years. During the English Civil War, it was a factory that made gunpowder! Later, it became a place where they printed fabric called calico. It was also a home for rich merchants from the City of London.
An entertainer and writer named William S. Woodin lived at the Manor House from 1872 until he passed away in 1889. In the 1880s, a group called the Regions Beyond Missionary Union used it to house nurses. Then, in 1914, it became a hospital for training doctors who cared for children.
Modern History
Bromley Hall was damaged during World War II by bombs. After the war, a man named Alfred Tyler bought it from the Crown Estate. He worked to rebuild it and even gave some rare wooden panels from the Hall to the V&A Museum. The Hall also had a beautiful staircase from the Queen Anne period.
For a while, the Hall was used as both a home and an office for Tylers (London) Ltd. In the late 1990s, it was sold and became a warehouse for carpets. Sadly, Bromley Hall started to fall apart. It was even put on a special list called the Buildings At Risk register by English Heritage. This list helps keep track of important buildings that need help.
Restoration and Future
In 2001, a group called Leaside Regeneration bought Bromley Hall. They completed a huge project costing £1.1 million to fix up the building. Now, it's used as offices for small businesses.
Leaside Regeneration also plans to use the ground floor for a special display. This display will teach people about the Hall, the manor, and the Tudors. They also hope to have a meeting room and show visitors parts of the building's inside. This includes a staircase, an original oak doorframe from the Tudor period, and the remains of the cellars from the building that was there before Bromley Hall.
The amazing restoration work on Bromley Hall won two awards in London in 2006. These awards were from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
