Timeline
The story of Brougham Hall from 2000BC to modern day
2000BC - 1000AD: From the Bronze Age to the Saxons
- 2000 BC Mayborough Henge built. Neolithic.
- 1800 BC King Arthur’s Round Table built. Bronze Age.
- 74AD (circa) Petillus Cerialis leads the Romans into the Eden Valley. Major Roman roads cross in the Parish of Brougham and Brocavum Roman Fort is built.
- 76AD (circa) Luguvalium (Roman Carlisle) is founded.
- C120 The Romans probably built a look-out tower, 21’6” x 21’6”, at Brougham Hall, overlooking the Roman bridge across the Lowther, on the site of the modern Lowther Bridge.
- 122AD Hadrian visits “his” wall and would have passed within a Roman mile of Brougham Hall.
- 360AD The Picts and Scots cross Hadrian’s Wall and are repelled.
- 397AD St Ninian sails up the Eden Valley and establishes a hermitage, in a sandstone cave, overlooking the site of the first village of Brougham.
- 410AD Honorius withdraws the Roman Legions from Brocavum and from the whole of Britain.
- 927AD 12th July The Treaty of Eamont Bridge establishes Great Britain under a sole Monarch and adopts Christianity as the State religion.
- 1000AD Saxon Village surrounds Ninekirks Church, dedicated to St Ninian. Danish and Norwegian forces raid and settle.
1000 - 1597: From William II to the plague
- 1000 The de Burgham family probably in residence at or near Brougham Hall.
- 1092 William II conquers Cumberland and Carlisle Cathedral is founded.
- 1133 Diocese of Carlisle founded. Brougham Hall was in the Diocese of Chester until 1856.
- 1140 Udard de Burgham born.
- 1157 Cumberland and Westmorland now officially part of England.
- 1173 Invasion by Scottish King William (The Lion). Udard de Burgham surrenders Appleby Castle to the Scots and escapes on a crusade.
- 1176 Udard de Burgham fined by King Henry II for “being with Kings’ enemies”.
- 1185 Udard de Burgham dies and is buried at Ninekirks.
- 1202 Gilbert de Burgham is fined for refusing to sail to Norway with King John.
- 1230 Gilbert de Burgham died and is buried in Ninekirks Chapel. About this time, the first village of Brougham is cleared from the environs of Ninekirks to make way for a hunting ground for the de Viponts of Brougham Castle.
- 1272 The de Burghams run out of male heirs.
- 1307 July 7th King Edward I dies crossing the Solway.
- 1307 Ricardus de Brun is granted a licence to crenellate Brougham Hall.
- 1309 July Robert Clifford granted licence to crenellate Brougham Castle.
- 1310 The first Rector of Brougham, Robert de Appleby, is appointed.
- 1315 Roger de Clifford, heir to the de Viponts, died and the Brougham Parish was subsequently divided between three families.
- 1393 A map is produced showing St Wilfrid’s Chapel of Ease, for the benefit of the new Brougham village, which is situated either side of a beck in front of Pembroke House.
- 1480 The Tudor Building is built at Brougham Hall.
- 1490 The Brougham Triptych is made by the Guild of Antwerp craftsmen. It is now in St Wilfrid’s (North) transept in Carlisle Cathedral.
- 1520 The main entrance to Brougham Hall is built. Its original door survives to this day.
- 1550 Penrith is smitten by plague.
- 1590 Lady Anne Clifford is born.
- 1597 Plague kills one-third of the population of Penrith.
1600 - 1792: From King James to the first resident of Brougham Hall
- 1600 Brougham’s Pele Tower is refurbished.
- 1603 The Union of the Crowns (Scotland and England, under King James).
- 1605 The third Earl of Cumberland, Lady Anne Clifford’s father, dies.
- 1609 Lady Anne marries Lord Buckhurst, later Earl of Dorset.
- 1616 Margaret, Dowager Countess of Cumberland, dies and Lady Anne subsequently erects a pillar in her memory near Brougham Castle on the edge of the A66.
- 1624 The Earl of Dorset dies and Lady Anne Clifford contracts smallpox.
- 1630 Lady Anne marries Philip Herbert, fourth Earl of Pembroke.
- 1637 The future owner of Brougham Hall, James Bird, Lady Anne’s future Factor, is born.
- 1638 Henry Brougham is born and is recorded as being of Scales Hall and Brougham Hall.
- 1642 The Civil War begins with Cumberland and Westmorland staunchly Royalist. Brougham Castle is garrisoned by Sir John Lowther.
- 1647 The Earl of Pembroke receives Charles I from the Scots.
- 1650 Brougham Hall is bought by Captain James Browne. The Earl of Pembroke dies. Lady Anne begins the Clifford Estates Restoration.
- 1651 Lady Anne buys Brougham Hall freehold for £1,500.00.
- 1652 Lady Anne restores Brougham Castle, for her own occupation, at a cost of £40,000.00.
- 1653 Appleby Castle is restored by Lady Anne.
- 1654 Lady Anne buys one-third of the Parish of Brougham from James Browne (mentioned above). She also buys Hospital Farm, otherwise known as Pembroke House, to be a hospital for the staff of Brougham Hall and Brougham Castle.
- 1656 The Countess’s Pillar, mentioned above, is dedicated to Lady Anne Clifford’s mother.
- 1658 Skipton Castle is restored.
- 1659 St Wilfrid’s, Brougham Chapel and Brough Castle are restored.
- 1660 Ninekirks Chapel is rebuilt and Pendragon Castle is restored, as is King Charles II as King of England.
- 1668 Sir Edward Hazel, of Dalemain, becomes Lady Anne’s Chief Secretary.
- 1672 A map of this date describes Brougham Hall as “hall, fine house, byre and maldoer”.
- 1674 James Bird, owner of two-thirds of Brougham parish, becomes Lady Anne Clifford’s steward.
- 1676 Lady Anne Clifford dies, at the age of 86, and James Bird buys the remaining third of Brougham Parish from her grandson, Lord John Tufton, thereby uniting the Brougham Parish for the first time for four centuries.
- 1680 James Bird begins the clearance of the second Brougham Village, creating a deer park for himself. The villagers are moved to Eamont Bridge.
- 1683 James Bird builds a gatehouse at Brougham Hall; but we are not told which gatehouse.
- 1693 Henry Brougham of Scales becomes Sheriff of Cumberland.
- 1698 Henry Brougham of Scales dies.
- 1713 James Bird dies without male heirs.
- 1719 Henry Brougham the elder (Henry Peter’s grandfather) is born.
- 1726 John Brougham of Scales Hall buys the Brougham Estate for £5,000.00 from the Bird family.
- 1742 Henry Brougham “the younger” (Henry Peter’s father) born.
- 1744 Henry Richmond Brougham dies.
- 1745 The Battle of Clifton Moor takes place between Clifton Moor and Lowther Bridge. That part of the action held in the dark, after 6pm, is fought out in the meadows immediately beneath Brougham Hall.
- 1756 The estate passes to Henry Brougham, the elder, the first Brougham to inhabit Brougham Hall.
- 1777 Henry Brougham, the younger, marries Eleanor Syme.
- 1778 Henry Peter Brougham, later first Baron Brougham and Vaux, is born.
- 1778 Henry Brougham, the elder, starts making bricks at Wetheriggs Farm.
- 1782 Henry Brougham, the elder, dies and his coffin is lost on the way to his funeral.
- 1792 Henry Peter Brougham enters Edinburgh University at the age of 14.
1800 - 1897: Politics, Kings and deaths
- 1800 Henry Peter Brougham qualifies as Scottish Advocate and his elder brother is killed in a dual in San Salvador.
- 1802 Henry Brougham co-founds the Edinburgh Review.
- 1803 Brougham is made a Fellow of the Royal Society.
- 1807 Byron publishes “Hours of Idleness”, and later threatens Brougham with a dual over Brougham’s critical review of “Hours of Idleness”.
- 1808 Brougham is called to the English Bar.
- 1810 Henry Brougham the younger dies. Henry Peter inherits the estate and is made MP for Camelford, by the Duke of Bedford, and makes slave trade within the Empire a felony.
- 1812 Brougham becomes the legal advisor to Queen Caroline and Princess Charlotte. He looses his Camelford seat and contests Liverpool against Canning.
- 1815 Brougham is made MP for Winchelsea by the Earl of Darlington.
- 1818 Brougham fights the Lowthers for their Westmorland seat and the Westmorland Gazette is founded by the Lowertherites and edited by de Quincey. (See “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”)
- 1820 10th February Henry Brougham appointed Attorney General to Queen Caroline.
- 1820 Brougham successfully defends Queen Caroline, in the House of Lords, against George IV’s attempts to divorce her.
- 1821 Brougham is executor to the uncrowned Queen Caroline who dies that year and is sent back to Brunswick for burial.
- 1822 Henry Peter Brougham fails in an attempt to win the Westmorland parliamentary seat from the Lowthers, by 64 votes.
- 1824 Brougham is recognised as the leading radical, following nationwide support for an anti-slavery speech which he made in the House of Commons.
- 1826 Henry Peter tries for the third and final time to win the Constituency of Westmorland and narrowly fails to become its MP. He has to rely upon rotten and pocket boroughs, which he later abolishes. Brougham is the chief speaker at a launch of the London University project; known in those days as the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
- 1828 Brougham makes the longest ever recorded speech in the House of Commons, of over six hours.
- 1829 The old tower at Brougham collapses and prompts consideration for the rebuilding of the entire Hall.
- 1820-1843 L N Cottingham retained to restore Brougham Hall as a palace fit for the future Lord Chancellor of England.
- 1830 Brougham is returned for MP for Knaresborough and his brother James becomes MP for Kendal.
- 1830 Brougham takes the Woolsack as Lord Chancellor in Earl Grey’s government. He heads the Charity Commission and is created first Baron Brougham and Vaux.
- 1831 William, a barrister and Henry’s brother, becomes MP for Southwark and a master in Chancery.
(Oxford Dictionary: chancery. n. Law (in the UK) the Lord Chancellor’s court, a division of the High Court of Justice). - 1832 Lord Chancellor Brougham forces the Reform Bill through the House of Lords, thereby doubling the British Electorate and ending the rotten borough system.
- 1833 James Brougham dies and is buried in the family vault at Skelton.
- 1834 Brougham is attacked in The Times over the Poor Law bill. The Times leak is instrumental in his, and the Cabinet’s, fall from office.
- 1835 The King (William IV), makes a pension offer to Brougham, who is in self exile, discovering and developing Cannes as a winter retreat and later becoming the resort’s founding father. The demolition of the Mediaeval Hall at Brougham Hall begins. The Mediaeval Hall was the largest in Cumbria, measuring 103ft by 35ft.
- 1836 Henry Charles, the future third Lord Brougham is born.
- 1837 Henry Peter Brougham invents the Brougham Carriage.
- 1838 Brougham begins disinheritance of his nephew and heir Patrick, by sending him to Australia, with a letter of introduction to the Governor of New South Wales.
- 1839 Mrs Eleanor Brougham (Henry’s mother) dies and is buried at Ninekirks. Henry’s daughter, Eleanor Louise dies of consumption.
- 1840 The Pele Tower is heightened along with other work at Brougham by L N Cottingham. A 10,000 gallon water tank surmounts the tower to power the organ.
- 1841 William Brougham founds the Wetheriggs Pottery, from the earlier family brickworks.
- 1843 Thomas Bird challenges the Brougham’s ownership of Brougham Hall and a court case ensues in the Appleby Courts, which results in the Brougham’s victory. Further rebuilding of Brougham Hall, by L N Cottingham.
- 1844 A replica of the Durham Sanctuary Door Knocker is cast at Brougham.
- 1847 Lady Zoe Brougham, née Wells is born.
- 1848 Brougham attempts to sell Brougham Hall and to obtain French citizenship.
- 1850 Brougham is blackmailed.
- 1851 Lady Brougham attacks London Policeman.
- 1852 William leaves Chancery “without much regret”.
- 1852 William Brougham builds a real tennis court behind The Crown at Eamont Bridge in the style of Passage Sandrie, Paris.
- 1853 William buys King Arthur’s Round Table and Yanwath Hall.
- 1854 Henry buys Highhead Castle, after a 32 year conveyance.
- 1856 Brougham Hall is slightly damaged by fire.
- 1857 The first visit by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, to Brougham. Henry launches the National Association for the Promotion of Social Sciences.
- 1859 Henry Peter is elected Chancellor of Edinburgh University.
- 1860 Queen Victoria grants entail to enable William to succeed Henry as the second Lord Brougham.
- 1861 Final rebuilding of the Hall by Richard Charles Hussey, Vice President of the RIBA.
- 1863 The library and billiard room are built at Brougham Hall.
- 1864 The Hussey rebuild (for comfort’s sake), is completed. Brougham Hall still only has one bathroom for 39 bedrooms!
- 1865 A Brougham protégée and blackmailer, Leonard Edmunds, clerk to the commissioner of patents, is exposed as an embezzler, causing Lord Chancellor Westbury to resign.
- 1868 Henry first Baron Brougham and Vaux dies and is buried at Cannes, which he created.
- 1869 The Antwerp Triptych is installed in St Wilfrid’s Chapel.
- 1877 William, second Baron Brougham creates a cricket ground in what is now known as the Penrith Show field.
- 1878 William fails in a bid to buy Brougham Castle from the Tuftons.
- 1879 The first Cumberland v Westmorland cricket match is played at Brougham.
- 1881 Sir Richard Musgrave, of Eden Hall, dies.
- 1882 Henry Charles marries Sir Richard’s widow, Lady Zoe Musgrave.
- 1887 William, second Lord Brougham dies. Henry Charles becomes the third Lord Brougham.
- 1887 The Honourable Henry Brougham (Henry Charles’s son and heir) is born.
- 1889 The Earl of Lonsdale visits Brougham Hall and the alleged rivalry between the two families seems to be at an end.
- 1891 The Broughams add a dog cemetery adjacent the Chapel.
- 1892 The future King George V visits Brougham Hall with his father.
- 1894 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, visits Brougham and Henry Charles introduces bridge into Britain, by accident, at the Portman Club.
- 1897 The Duke and Duchess of Teck visit Brougham.
1900 - 1999: From WWI to the retsoration commencement
- 1900 The future Queen Mary (Princess Victoria Mary of Teck) visits Brougham.
- 1900 The Reverend Arthur John Heelis MA, was a Rector of Brougham until he resigned in 1922. Arthur Heelis was the third member of his family to be a Rector at Brougham. He was also Beatrix Potter’s brother-in-law, she being a regular visitor to the Hall. On one such visit, she gave Eileen Brougham a copy of “A Tale of Peter Rabbit” for her birthday and signed the flyleaf. On 16th November 2004, this signed copy sold at auction for £47,800.00.
- 1903 Highhead Castle and various other estates are sold by the third Lord Brougham.
- 1905 King Edward VII visits Brougham and participates in the first motorcade in the North of England. Henry Charles is awarded the KCVO and the Yellow Earl of Lonsdale becomes the first President of the Automobile Association.
- 1908 The Honourable Henry Brougham marries Diana Sturt.
- 1909 Victor Henry the future fourth Lord Brougham and Vaux is born.
- 1914 The first World War begins and the Honourable Henry Brougham is a Captain in the Coldstream Guards Special Reserve.
- 1917 Captain Brougham undergoes a serious operation.
- 1919 The Honourable Henry Brougham divorced by Diana.
- 1925 Lady Zoe Brougham dies.
- 1927 The Honourable Henry Brougham, heir to the title of Brougham Estates dies. Henry Charles the third Lord Brougham died three weeks later and the 18 year old Victor Henry Peter Brougham becomes the fourth Baron Brougham and Vaux.
- 1930 Victor comes of age with great celebration and buys two Bentley motor cars.
- 1931 Victor marries Valerie French, granddaughter of the Earl of Ypres. Scales Hall is sold and Victor buys a £1,500.00 lily pond and breaks the bank of Monte Carlo twice.
- 1932 Victor breaks himself at Monte Carlo and valuable effects at Brougham are auctioned to pay his debts. Victor’s heir, Julian Henry Peter Brougham is born.
- 1934 Brougham Hall is sold to Major Carlton Cooper, for £5,000.00 and demolished. The lily pond, on which Victor spent £1,500.00 is sold for £44.00. A boy, called Maugham is killed by falling stone masonry in the Lord Chancellor’s Den. Eden Hall is demolished.
- 1935 Victor is divorced by Valerie French on the grounds of adultery. Victor marries Jean Follet.
- 1938 Michael, the future fifth Lord Brougham and Vaux and Christopher Terry, and James Cropper are all born in the same year. (James Croppers’ ancestors were Broughams).
- 1939 A collection of Brougham books and papers were sold at Sotheby’s to Charles K Ogden.
- 1941 Jean Follet divorces Victor. Brougham Hall becomes a testing site for the CDL Tank.
- 1942 December Winston Churchill visits Brougham Hall and has lunch in a tent just outside the gate.
- 1943 Victor is mentioned in Dispatches in the run up to the German surrender in North Africa.
- 1944 The CDL 79th Armoured Brigade leaves Brougham for France.
- 1945 REME leaves Brougham which becomes a displaced persons camp.
- 1948 Evans Bellhouse buy Brougham Hall for £7,700.00.
- 1948 Seven Roman inscriptions are removed from Brougham by the Ministry of Works.
- 1950 Victor Henry Peter Brougham is declared bankrupt.
- 1952 Julian Henry Peter, heir to the Brougham title, dies of polio (contracted in Aden) while on active service in Malaya.
- 1953 The Ogden Library (with the Brougham collection) is bequeathed to the University College of London.
- 1963 Victor is discharged from his bankruptcy.
- 1966 Victor’s aunt, Eleanor Brougham (a novelist) dies.
- 1967 Victor Henry Peter Brougham dies and Michael becomes the fifth Baron Brougham and Vaux.
- 1968 Brougham Hall is bought by a local building company who acquire full consent for its demolition, to make way for 26 speculative houses, 9 of which were to be built on or within the footprint of the Hall.
- 1985 25th September Brougham Hall is purchased by Christopher Terry.
- 1986 January Restoration of Brougham Hall commences.
- 1986 Bodley Head publish Robert Stewart’s book on Henry Brougham’s Public Career. Lord Hailsham reviews the book on Radio 4.
- 1986 8th October Brougham Hall is transferred to the Brougham Hall Charitable Trust for one peppercorn.
- 1992 Phillimore Press publish Mark Thomas’s “History of Brougham Hall and Highhead Castle”.
- 1993-6 The Brougham Hall team works in the winter on the restoration of Parsons Lodge Battery in Gibraltar, which is awarded a Europa Nostra Diploma.
- 1999 Ross Features publish Ben Furnival’s “Windsor of the North”.
2000+: Modern day Brougham Hall
- 2002 Brougham Hall is awarded the first NWDA Rural Architecture Award.
- 2003 24th July HRH the Duke of Gloucester visits Brougham Hall, has lunch and unveils a plaque to the last battle on English soil.
- 2003 & 2004 Brougham Hall was highly commended by the Beacon Fellowship, for “Community Building”.
- 2007 23rd January Living TV’s “Most Haunted”, filmed at Brougham Hall, was broadcast to an estimated audience of 400 million in 37 languages.
- 2007 5th October Piers Merry, a Brougham stone mason, received the first ever Duke of Gloucester’s Award for stone Masonry.
- 2009 18th October Piers Merry, received his second Duke of Gloucester’s Award for Stone Masonry.
- 2010 15th July Channel 4 Television make a one and a half hour programme on the subject of Brougham Hall, entitled The Lakes on a Plate.
- 2010 15th August The first Brougham Hall Family Festival staged with a visit from Tate Modern
- 2011 20th/21st August The Globe Theatre perform “As you like it” at Brougham Hall
- 2012 6th February BBC2 “Britain’s Heritage Heroes” featuring Brougham Hall
