Industrial History of Bramhall

Family History

About a hundred years after the Domesday Survey the lands were held by a family which bore the local name - Bromale. Bramhall was probably held by six generations of the Bromale family covering a period of about 200 years, from A.D.1180 to 1380. The last of the Bromales, Geoffrey de Bromale had a daughter Alice, who married John de Davenport, of Wheltrough, and so carried the Bramhall estate into that family.

The various families of Davenport may be traced back to Ormus de Davenport, who lived in the time of William the Conquerer. One of the offices held by the Davenports was that of Grand Sergeant of Macclesfield Forest. The powers of this official were very great ; he had the power of life and death and it is probable that the felon's head, with a halter round the neck was adopted as the Davenport Crest as illustrative of these powers.

After holding possession of Bramhall for four and a half centuries, the male line became extinct upon the death of William Davenport in 1829, who left his estate to his daughters, Maria and Ann then living with him in Bramhall Hall.

At that time Bramhall was mainly an agricultural village formed from a collection of hamlets that included Syddal, Pownall Green and Bramhall Green and did not develop into a 'village' until after the station was opened in 1845.

Village History

The centre of the village was then at Bramhall Green, at the gates of Bramall Hall. Here was situated the only mill in Bramhall run by the Ladybrook, although the last miller left in 1800. The first school in Bramhall was situated at the Green and was opened in 1741 by Warren Davenport. By 1819 it had been converted to cottages.

The pinfold, a black smith, a tailors shop and an Inn called the 'Shoulder of Mutton'' were alongside several houses. The village stocks are now kept at Bramall Hall.

In 1845 the Macclesfield branch of the Manchester and Birmingham railway opened, connecting Bramhall on a direct line to Manchester. The effect of this was to move the centre of the village to it's present position near the station, about one mile away from Bramhall Green and to change Bramhall into a more expensive residential area. This caused the population to increase from 1033 in 1801 to 3365 in 1891.

Bramhall has continued to grow rapidly, the population increasing by ten fold in 90 years. This was due to large housing estates being built on what was once farmland in order to attract people to the area.

This information has been gathered from Bramhall Library - original source unknown.