Bramhall Hall. 2 5 



Long ago they united in marriage with the De Bram- 

 halls, (through Alice de Bramhall,) and in the fifteenth 

 century was commenced the present lineage. During the 

 Civil Wars the occupant was one Peter Davenport, who 

 asked only to be " left quiet," but appears to have been 

 molested more than he cared for, first by the Royalists, 

 afterwards by the Parliamentary forces. In an account 

 of his grievances, still extant, he complains pathetically 

 of the stealing of all his horses. One of the most interest- 

 ing particulars connected with Bramhall Hall, noticed 

 even by the most casual passer-by, is the armorial crest 

 of the Davenports, carved upon the stone-work of the 

 gateway. This consists of the head of a felon, " couped," 

 or cut short off, as if he had been guillotined, and with 

 a rope wound loosely about the neck. The allusion is to 

 the magisterial power, termed " serjeancy," which this 

 family once possessed by royal favour over the whole of 

 the great district called the forest of Macclesfield. The 

 power was absolute, for life and death, and is thus very 

 plainly expressed. The popular explanation of this sin- 

 gular crest, based on the story of the abduction of an 

 heiress, is not true, or in any way sustained. At Bram- 

 hall Hall, it may be added, is a chapel of the Episcopal 

 Church, where service, open to the public, is held every 

 Sunday afternoon.* 



Resuming our track, and crossing a field, we next enter 



* For further particulars respecting Bramhall Hall, see Ormerod's 

 Cheshire, vol. Hi., p. 400. 1819. 



