824 Notes on Sjjj/e Bark mid Bromham. 



to me probable that*there was a small house or bunting lodge here 

 whilst Bromham Hall still existed, and that this was made the 

 principal residence of the family when the Hall was destroyed. The 

 name " Spy Park Lodgy" given to it by Dingley, in itself suggested 

 this. 1 



The old stables still remain with very little alteration, forming a 

 picturesque building with five gables and many windows to the north 

 side. Seen from a little distance, it might well be supposed earlier ; 

 but, judging from a round arched doorway, now walled up, in the 

 western end, which appears to be original, and from the cap mould- 

 ings of the chimneys, 1 should think that the whole was built as 

 offices, by Sir Edward Baynton, in the seventeenth century. 



Of the fragments of old work, 2 found re-used as building mateiial 

 in the more modern walls of the house, two specimens of elaborately 

 carved stone-work were preserved. 3 It is, I think, impossible to say 

 to what part of the building they may have belonged. The work 

 is no doubt of Henry the Eighth's time, and is remarkable rather for 

 richness of ornament than for beauty of design. These fragments, 

 and the gate-way shortly to be described, fully bear out the tradition 

 of the magnificent character of Bromham Hall, which has been 

 described as " nearly as large as Whitehall, and a| palace fit to 

 entertain a king/'' 



The ruins of Bromham Hall were used as a quarry, whether by 

 the Sir Edward Baynton who so extensively altered the house we 

 do not know, but certainly at a later date, and one of the family, 

 Sir Edward Baynton Rolt, had taste enough not to destroy > but 

 rather to remove bodily, the gate-house which now stands at the 



1 This conjecture has since been confirmed, for I am informed by Mrs. Starky 

 that it is considered certain that this took place. But for this confirmation, I 

 could not have felt completely confident of conclusions arrived at in a single 

 shoit visit, as it is easy to be mistaken, at first-sight, in the date of a building;, 

 and debased Perpendicular details lingered long in this neighbourhood. 

 2 Originally, beyond all reasonable doubt, from Bromham Hall. 



3 These fragments have been, since the visit of the Society, built into a 

 recess in a terrace wall for protection. My thanks are due to J. W. G. Spicer, 

 Esq. , of Spye Park, for permission to make use of a photograph taken for him 

 in the preparation of the accompanying illustration.. 



