Broome Hall is a

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

country house with grounds including cottages and outhouses on the wooded, upper southern slopes of the

Greensand Ridge The Greensand Ridge, also known as the Wealden Greensand is an extensive, prominent, often wooded, mixed greensand/sandstone escarpment in south-east England. Forming part of the Weald, a former dense forest in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, it r ...

near Coldharbour in Surrey, England. It was built around 1830 for the politician and printer

Andrew Spottiswoode Andrew Spottiswoode (19 February 1787 – 20 February 1866) was a Scottish printer, publisher and politician, MP for from 1826 to 1830, and from 1830 to 1831. Life He was the fourth son of John Spottiswoode (died 1805) of Spottiswoode, Berwick ...

, and had a succession of similarly wealthy family owners before the main house was converted into eleven flats, each separately owned, in the late 20th century. It was owned, for a number of years in the 1970s, by actor

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

. Broom(e) refers to the genus (and specifically several species) of often flowering plants

genisteae Genisteae is a tribe of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in the subfamily Faboideae of the family Fabaceae. It includes a number of well-known plants including broom, lupine (lupin), gorse and laburnum. The tribe's greatest diversity is in ...

(along with gorse, lupins and

laburnum ''Laburnum'', sometimes called golden chain or golden rain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are '' Laburnum anagyroides''—common laburnum and '' Laburnum alpinum''� ...

). Along with evergreens, broom dominates the sandy soil in the region.

19th century

The house was built about 1830 for the printer-politician and investor

, and extended in the late 19th century for

Sir Alexander Brown, 1st Baronet Sir Alexander Hargreaves Brown, 1st Baronet (11 April 1844 – 12 March 1922) was an English Liberal Party, and later Liberal Unionist, politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1906. Family Brown was the third son of Alexander Br ...

. It was also home from 1865 to the international merchant-politician Frederick Pennington (died 1914) and his suffragette wife, Margaret.

20th century

In the Second World War, it served as headquarters of Canadian forces in Britain. Its gravel drive was reinforced with concrete to withstand the weight of tanks. In 1954, the

White Fathers , image = Cardinal Lavigerie.jpg , caption = Charles Lavigerie , abbreviation = M.Afr. , nickname = White Fathers , formation = , founder = Archbishop Charles-Martial Allem ...

, Christian missionaries in Africa and an order of monks, bought the property and used it as their British novitiate, for training new monks. The actor

bought the 56-bedroom property in 1971 and became the "Master of Broome Hall" for eight years. Reed only bought the house because he was looking for a field for a horse he had bought from Johnny Kidd, the father of future supermodel

Jodie Kidd Jodie Elizabeth Kidd (born 25 September 1978) is an English fashion model, racing driver, and television personality. Early life Kidd was born in 1978 and is the daughter of the businessman and former showjumper Johnny Kidd. She is the grandda ...

, who ran a stud farm in Ewhurst. He then spent a fortune renovating it. The naked wrestling scene with Reed and Alan Bates in Ken Russell's 1969 film ''

Women in Love ''Women in Love'' (1920) is a novel by English author D. H. Lawrence. It is a sequel to his earlier novel ''The Rainbow'' (1915) and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, ...

'' is said to have been filmed there. Reed was banned from his local pub there for descending a chimney naked and shouting out: "Ho! Ho! Ho! I'm Santa Claus." According to legend, Reed buried the jewellery collection of a former girlfriend in the grounds where it still lies. The house was then bought by a property developer who converted it into flats. It was assessed and recognised as a Grade II-listed building in 1987.

References

External links

Oliver Reed at home in Broom Hal
- '' Nationwide'', BBC Archive, with

Valerie Singleton Valerie Singleton (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter best known as a regular presenter of the popular children's series ''Blue Peter'' from 1962 to 1972. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 '' PM'' programme for t ...

, originally broadcast 17 January, 1977 {{DEFAULTSORT:Broome Hall Grade II listed buildings in Surrey Grade II listed houses Houses completed in 1830 Country houses in Surrey

19th century

20th century

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Further reading

External links