Bryn Hall, Ashton-in-Makerfield
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Bryn Hall, also called Brynne Hall, is situated in Bryn Park,
Ashton-in-Makerfield Ashton-in-Makerfield is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, south of Wigan. As of the 2021 census, there was a population of 26,380. Historically part of Lancashire, Ashton-in-Makerfield was a to ...
,
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
.


History


Old Bryn Hall

The Ashton-in-Makerfield seat of the Gerard family was Bryn Hall, in their estate Bryn Park. Brynne Hall became the seat of the Gerard family by the marriage of William Gerard to the daughter and sole heiress of Peter de Brynne in 1250. In 1564 it was the birthplace of Jesuit John Gerrard. The estate is now used for arable purposes, although part of it has been used for the Landgate housing development. It has been suggested that the site of the Old Hall should be excavated to find the remains of the house; however, the landowner has dug it up.


New Bryn

New Bryn Hall was built by a different section of the family. It was erected during the reign of Edward VI and was built around a courtyard and entered by crossing a narrow bridge over a moat that surrounded the property. The hall had a gatehouse secured by huge doors. A porch led to the
great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...
, which had a railed gallery along one side used to observe entertainments below. The gallery was supported by richly carved double pilasters, which were later removed to Garswood Hall (The original stone footings of this building were no more than 40 feet square, so the 'great' hall wasn't as 'great' as you might imagine). Thomas Gerard was
High Sheriff of Lancashire The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient office, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High Sheriff of Lanca ...
in 1557. His son, Thomas Gerard, was created Baronet Gerard of Bryn in 1611. The Baronet's brother, Fr.
John Gerard John Gerard (also John Gerarde, 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes'', first published in 1597, became a popular garde ...
, was later ordained a
Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...
of the
Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
and left behind a detailed memoir of his underground ministry in
Elizabethan England The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
The
Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...
Fr.
Edmund Arrowsmith Edmund Arrowsmith, SJ (c. 1585 – 28 August 1628) was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales of the Catholic Church. The main source of information on Arrowsmith is a contemporary account written by an eyewitness and published a short ...
, who was canonized by
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
in 1970 as one of the
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales or Cuthbert Mayne and Thirty-Nine Companion Martyrs are a group of Catholic Church, Catholic, lay and religious, men and women, executed between 1535 and 1679 for treason and related offences under variou ...
, was related to the Gerards on his mother's side, and after his execution in 1628 his hand was reportedly cut off and preserved at the Hall in a white silk bag; it was referred to as the 'holy hand'.Old Bryn Hall
Wigan Archaeological Society, retrieved 8 July 2014.
Edward Baines, ''The history of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster'', rev. ed. James Croston, Volume 4 Manchester/London: John Heywood, 1891,
p. 381
The Gerards were Royalists during the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. In 1651, Charles II travelled through Wigan and lodged at Bryn Hall on his way from Scotland to his ultimate defeat at the
Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...
.Ernest Broxap, ''The Great Civil War in Lancashire, 1642–1651'', 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press / Clifton, New Jersey: A.M. Kelly, 1973,
p. 182
New Bryn Hall had completely collapsed by the end of the 20th century. In the early 1600s the Gerards left Bryn Hall for nearby Garswood Hall before moving into New Hall, which dates to around 1692 and which they obtained from the Launder family; it has since been renamed Garswood Hall. New Bryn was later demolished. Later, another 'Bryn Hall' was built, on a different site some distance from the original, by an offshoot of the Gerard family (Richard Gerard in marriage to Margaret Baldwin). The Crippin family moved into this hall and developed coal mining on the estate. In 1870 20 men were killed and 1873 six men were killed in explosions at
Bryn Hall Colliery Bryn Hall Colliery was a coal mine on the Lancashire Coalfield in Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The colliery was first worked 1859 to 1864 by Smith & Sons before ownerships tr ...
on the Bryn Hall Estate. Bryn Hall was home to colliery owner
Edward Frederick Crippin Edward Frederick Crippin (17 May 1848 – 3 February 1892) was an English businessman. Crippin was born at 13 Tonman Street, Manchester, Lancashire. His father William Crippin (1815–1879) was a coal agent and his mother Sarah Crippin (née Bre ...
.


References

Notes Bibliography * {{Coord, 53.511, -2.623, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000 Houses in Greater Manchester Ashton-in-Makerfield