User:Prioryman/Brooksby Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brooksby Hall is a late 16th century manor house in 3.2 square kilometres (800 acres) of land between Leicester and Melton Mowbray. Situated 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of Leicester, the hall and the neighbouring church of St Michaels and All Angels are the last remnants of the medieval village of Brooksby. The settlement was founded during the period of the Danelaw in the 9th century AD but was depopulated by enclosures carried out by the estate's owners in the 15th and 16th centuries when they turned Brooksby's agricultural land into sheep pastures to profit from a boom in the wool trade.
A 31 acre garden adjoins the hall, leading down to the River Wreake and the railway line from Leicester to Peterborough. The hall, which is Grade II* listed, was occupied for centuries by the Villiers family and later by Admiral David Beatty, the British commander at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. It is now part of the Brooksby Melton College and is also used as a wedding and conference venue.