BRADSHAW HALL AND THE BRADSHAWES. 



picturesque character. Above the arch, on the north side, it 

 is embellished with armorial bearings, and on the south side is 

 ornamented with a shield within floriated scroll work below 

 the inscription, " 1 620, FRANCIS BRADSHAWE." There 

 are indications that originally the archway was enclosed with 

 double gates, and rebates for which still remain in the upper 

 section, but the lower has evidently been slightly restored, 

 perhaps some half-century ago. A feature of the walling round 

 Eradshaw is its heavy double coping. The eastern boundary 

 wall has been removed, but its line is traceable between the Hall 

 and the present road, and was continued to the terraces on the 

 south side. In the field, in front of these, can still be seen the 

 outlines of the old gardens or orchards. 



Entering the Hall by the principal entrance — that is, .speaking 

 figuratively from the original plan, for the doorway is now built 

 up — we notice a quaint little window on the right, about 



1 ft. 8 ins. by i ft. 2 ins., which gave light to the vestibule, 

 but which now merely opens into a modern addition to one 

 of the two farmhouses, into which Bradshaw has been divided, 

 perhaps, fifty years ago. Hence we joass through a splayed 

 doorway into the dining hall. This was (for it is now divided 

 by partitions) a spacious room, 22 ft. by 18 ft., lighted by a 

 pair of four-light windows, now, alas, as previously mentioned, 

 replaced by modern work. Above, to sujiport the floor of the 

 upper storey, and the rooms at Bradshaw are unusually lofty, 

 are massive oak beams about 16 ins. deep by 14 ins. wide, 

 moulded and stopped on the lower edges. On the left is a 

 very fine segmental arch over the entrance to the staircase ; 

 it has a span of 4 ft., and its dejjth from front to back is 

 4 ft. I in., being deeply splayed on the outer side; altogether, 

 the design is striking, and if the old window, lighting the 

 staircase behind it, were but opened out, the effect would be 

 distinctly quaint and picturesque. This archway springs from 

 the ancient chimney, through which it may have been cut, which 

 here, for the greater part of its length, forms the side of the 

 hall, and no doubt, to the mind of its seventeenth century 



