In 1762 Orlando, son of Sir John II inherited, through his wife Anne Newport, the house and estate of Weston Park, Staffordshire. Like Castle Bromwich Hall, Weston is now a Grade I Listed building, but it is on an altogether much larger and grander scale than Castle Bromwich.
The house, designed in the fashionable contemporary Palladian style, had not long been completed. Like Castle Bromwich it is built around a centre court, but with 11 bays to 5 at Castle Bromwich and set in 1000 acres of parkland as against the 10-acre walled garden and no park at Castle Bromwich.
The Bridgemans Move To Weston Park
Little wonder then that Castle Bromwich ceased to be the Bridgeman family seat after 1762 with the family leaving shortly afterwards for Weston. Some of the family portraits and tapestries were taken from Castle Bromwich and still hang at Weston Park.
The Newport titles then passed to the Bridgemans: Orlando’s son, Sir Henry was created 1st Baron Bradford in 1794 and his son, Orlando was created 1st Earl of Bradford in 1811.
Castle Bromwich – TO LET
After the move to Weston, but for two short periods when members of the Bridgeman family were in residence, Castle Bromwich Hall was rented out. In 1773 Sir Henry’s ‘capitol mansion house’ was advertised to let fully furnished at £150 a year (A labourer’s cottage at this time would have been rented out at around 10 shillings a year).
The first tenant of the Hall was Samuel Garbett, a close friend of Mathew Boulton and one of Birmingham foremost citizens, a millionaire by modern standards, making his money from, among many other things, refining precious metals and large scale manufacture of sulphuric acid. Later tenants included the wealthy Birmingham banker John Rotton (one of his partnerships was registered as Rotton, Onions & Co.); Lady Jane Lawley, the widow of Sir Robert Lawley of Canwell Hall, MP for Warwickshire; and Alexander Blair, another wealthy industrialist whose plant at Tipton manufactured alkalis and soap products.
The Bridgemans Return To Castle Bromwich
In 1870 George Bridgeman, eldest son of Orlando 3rd Earl of Bradford, moved into Castle Bromwich Hall. Both he and his wife, Lady Ida née Lumley, daughter of Lord Scarborough, were to live there until their deaths, he in 1915, she in 1936. Until his father’s death, George bore the title of the eldest son, that of Viscount Newport.
When George, then Viscount Newport, brought his new wife to Castle Bromwich, his father was 50 years old and a member of a long-lived family; he would live to the age of 78. Although Weston was a very big house, George clearly wanted to set up on his own account. And 1870 must have been a difficult year at Weston. One of George’s two younger brothers, Gerald, had been appointed ensign in the Prince Consort’s Own Rifle Brigade in 1867; in 1870 he died of a fever at the age of only 23 while travelling in Italy. His father was so grief-stricken that he had built for him at Weston a mausoleum in the form of a Greek temple which still stands. Orlando did not die until 1898 by which time George had lived at Castle Bromwich for 28 years during which time Lady Ida had given birth to seven children.
The Bridgeman family had been involved in politics in local and national government and public service since the time of Orlando Bridgeman who bought Castle Bromwich Hall in 1657. So even when Castle Bromwich was the principal seat, the family would certainly not have spent all their time here. George, educated at Harrow, had served as a captain in the Life Guards and later the Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry; he was the Conservative MP for North Shropshire 1867-1885. The family owned a London town house in Lowndes Square, one of the most expensive addresses in Belgravia. The Illustrated London News records some of their comings and goings between Weston, Castle Bromwich and London and trips abroad.
Disraeli Stays At The Hall
During the time of George and Lady Ida at the Hall there were many visitors of note. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was a friend of the family and visited on more than one occasion; indeed George’s second son, also George, had Beaconsfield as one of his middle names (Disraeli was ennobled as the Earl of Beaconsfield).
In the summer of 1876, for instance, Disraeli stayed at Castle Bromwich with Orlando, 3rd Earl of Bradford accompanied by Lady Selina and her sister Lady Chesterfield, both close confidantes of the Premier. Visitors usually arrived by train at Stechford station from London; they would then be brought by carriage along Stechford Road and Coleshill Road to the hall.
While here the party visited Aston Pleasure Grounds (now the site of Villa Park) and Aston Hall. Lady Bradford laid on a garden party at the hall, inviting a large number of the local nobility and gentry, including Lord and Lady Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey, the Marquis and Marchioness of Hertford of Ragley Hall, Sir Charles and Lady Adderley of Hams Hall, the Bishops of Worcester and Lichfield, Sir F Peel (son of Robert Peel), industrialist and philanthropist Sir Josiah Mason, the Hon Mr and Mrs Calthorpe of Perry Hall, Joseph Chamberlain MP and Birmingham industrialists Messrs Chance and Avery. Unfortunately the Friday saw a torrential downpour which discouraged many of the guests from coming and the event was transferred from the marquee on the lawn to inside the Hall.
The following day was fine and Disraeli, accompanied by the Countess of Bradford, drove in his carriage about the local area as far as Stechford acknowledging the greetings of onlookers. 80 children from the church school were invited to the Hall for a picnic and games watched with interest by the Prime Minister. They were ‘regaled with a plentiful repast on the lawn’ served by the noble ladies present: Mabel and Florence, two of the daughters of Lord Bradford; the Countess of Chesterfield, the Marchioness of Ailesbury and Miss Bagot of Pype Hayes Hall.
Disraeli wrote to Selina Countess of Bradford that the visit to Castle Bromwich was ‘the happiest visit I ever paid and the memories of which will sustain and animate me in my solitude’ .
Royal Visitors to Castle Bromwich
A week later the Duke of Teck and Princess Mary of Teck stayed at the Hall while attending the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival with the Bradfords. Princess Mary, later Queen Mary, wife of George V, was a close friend of Lady Ida Bridgeman, wife of George, Viscount Newport. From 1901-1902 and 1905-1936 Lady Ida was a Lady of the Bedchamber, official personal attendant to the Queen.
In September 1894 the Duke and Duchess of York stayed at the Hall when they paid a state visit to Birmingham to lay the foundation stone for the new General Hospital in Steelhouse Lane, now the Children’s Hospital. The Duchess planted a tree in the Hall gardens to commemorate the Newports’ silver wedding. They attended Castle Bromwich church for the morning service. In 1897 Prince and Princess Christian were guests when they came to open the hospital.
The 1891 Census records 8 family members living at the Hall with Viscount Newport’s sister’s family as guests. 19 servants were also resident.
Orlando, 3rd Earl of Bradford died in 1898 and was succeeded by George, who continued to live at Castle Bromwich. He died in London in 1915 and was buried at Weston. Lady Ida stayed at Castle Bromwich after his death while her eldest son, Orlando, 5th Earl of Bradford made Weston his seat.
Castle Bromwich was the home of Lady Ida for 60 years; she was the last of the Bridgeman family to live at the hall.
She played an active part in the life of the village and attended the garden fetes held in the grounds in the early 1900s. (Church fetes were still held there until the early 1980s.)
Lady Ida continued to receive royal and distinguished guests after her husband’s death. Her friend Queen Mary visited on more than one occasion, and other visitors to the British Industries Fair were generally entertained at Castle Bromwich Hall.
When Lady Ida died in 1936 the Hall was advertised for sale or to let, furnished or unfurnished. Weston was the family seat and Castle Bromwich was now superfluous. Furthermore, what had been a country retreat was now being encroached on by housing spreading out from Birmingham, much of it on former Bridgeman land and paying the family ground rent. There was little interest in the building and most of the furniture was sold. There was an expression of interest by GEC but, with the outbreak of the Second World War, the transaction was put on hold. During the War the hall was used to billet troops.
After the War, GEC, whose Birmingham base was at Witton, rented the Hall for some years as a residence for their apprentices. By 1960 they left and the empty building began to deteriorate and was subject to vandalism.
Castle Bromwich Hall – FOR SALE
In 1969 the Earl of Bradford sold the Hall to Page Johnson Builders Ltd, as offices for some 70 staff. While the structure of the building remained intact, partitions were inserted into some of the larger rooms to create smaller offices. Page Johnson were bought out in 1972 by Bovis Homes who owned the Hall until 2001. the hall was then bought by the telecommunications company GPN who went bankrupt after two years. Failing to attract a buyer for the hall with all its outbuildings, the estate was split into six lots and successfully put up for auction. The buyer of the Hall itself did not occupy the building and no work was carried out, although the smaller buildings were bought and occupied. In 2007 the Hall was bought by luxury reproduction furniture manufacturers Theodore Alexander Ltd who planned to use it to showcase their wares. However, it was not to be. The hall was again left empty and in danger of deterioration through neglect.
Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel
In 2009 the building was bought by developers Linda and Neil Chen. After extensive consultations with English Heritage and the National Trust, the Hall was sensitively restored. It opened as Castle Bromwich Hall Hotel in 2011.
Absolutely fascinating, thank you for compiling such a comprehensive history of the Bridgemans and Castle Bromwich.