Brougham Hall—the seat of Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux—is situated about a mile south of Penrith, on the high-road from Lancaster to Carlisle. It is a structure of mixed character—half castle and half mansion—of which there are many examples in the northern districts of the Kingdom. Its origin dates from a remote period; and it has, no doubt, largely participated in the perils that arose from close proximity to “the Border.” The remains of a castle still more ancient than the greater part of the building, and, apparently, of far greater strength, stand at a short distance from the Hall, in the midst of “pleasant scenery”—fruitful fields and a gentle and generous river, the river Eamont. The earliest mention we find of Brougham occurs in the “Itinerary” of Antoninus, and in the “NotitiÆ,” from which we gather that it was a Roman station of considerable importance. The remains of the camp may still be traced near the present house, and a field close by appears to have been the burial-place (as usual, without the walls), many tombs and altars having been, from time to time, discovered there.

“Although,” according to Camden, “time hath consumed its buildings and its splendour, the name remains almost entire, for at this day we call it Brougham.” And this so clearly resembles the Roman Brovocum or Brocovum (for it is spelt both ways) that the etymology may be considered settled, although for many centuries both the place and the family were called Burgham—a name considered by Horsley (in his “Roman Antiquities of Britain”) as of Saxon derivation, compounded of Burgh, castle, and Ham, town. Stukeley in his “Itinerary,” (1725) says,—“The trace of the Roman city is very easily discovered, where the ditch went between the Roman road and the river. I saw many fragments of altars and inscriptions at the Hall near the bridge, all exposed in the court-yard to weather and injuries of every sort.”

In the earliest records belonging to the family, or to be found in the Tower of London, the place is spelt Broham and Bruham; and this, singularly enough, while it differs from the spelling of the Roman word (which, as Camden says, was in his time changed into Brougham), yet in sound it is absolutely identical with the pronunciation, which has probably always been, and certainly is at the present day, given to the name. We are enabled from original documents preserved in the Charter-room at Brougham, in the Tower, State-paper Office, Rolls Chapel, and Chapter-house, and from other authentic sources, to trace with accuracy the descent of Brougham in a family of the same name, who have been settled there from times long antecedent to the Norman conquest. An ancient pedigree preserved in a copy of Cranmer’s great Bible (1540), now at Brougham, states Walter de Broham to have held Brougham in the time of Edward the Confessor; he was succeeded by Wilfred; and he by Udard, who was appointed keeper of Appleby Castle on the degradation of the previous governor, in consequence of his participation in the death of Thomas À Beckett. This border-fortress was held by Udard until 1175, in which year he was defeated and the castle taken by William, king of Scotland. Soon after this we find him taking part against Henry II. for which he was fined eighty marks, “because he was with the king’s enemies.” Udard was succeeded by Gilbert, who, in the year 1200, “made fine with the king” that he might not go with him to Normandy. This Gilbert, to get rid of the burden of Drengage, gave up to King John no less than one half of the town of Brougham, together with the mill, the advowson of the church of Brougham, a great part of the forest of Whinfell, and the tower which formed the original building of Brougham Castle. The name was at this period changed from Broham to Burgham. From Gilbert, after Henry and Thomas, we come to Daniel, who commanded the king’s forces against Roger Mortimer in Kent. In 1378, Sir John Burgham was Lord of Brougham, and settled the boundary of the Lordship with Sir Roger Clifford; the record of which, after noting the particulars of the agreement, thus ends:—“And so thys ambulacyon was veiwyd and merkett in the secund yeare of King Richard the Secund, by the assentt and consentt of Sr. Rogere Clifforth, knight, and Sr John Burgham, in thayre time.” In 1383, Sir John Burgham was member for Cumberland. He was succeeded by his son John, who represented Carlisle. His son, Thomas, was one of the king’s judges in 1433, as appears by a record of assize taken at Penrith in the 12th Henry VII. John, the son of the above Thomas, was member for Cumberland, and was succeeded in the fourth generation by Thomas, who in 1553 married Jane, heiress of John Vaux of Cattulun and Tryermagne. The next possessor of the name was Henry, who signalised himself in the family records by alienating part of the ancient estate; which, however, was repurchased in 1726 by John Brougham, the then representative of the family.

Henry was succeeded by his son Thomas, whose name we now find changed from Burgham into Browgham, according to the spelling of the place in the deed of 1567; he died in 1607, and was buried in the chancel at Brugham: his widow, Agnes, having Brugham assigned to her for her life, by a deed dated 29th March, 1608. The heir-male of Thomas was Henry Browgham, of Scales Hall in Cumberland, who married a Wharton. His son, Thomas, married a Fleming; and in the deeds of that time his name is spelt Browham. His son, Henry, married the daughter of Lamplugh of Lamplugh, ultimately heir-general of that ancient family (and whose descendant, Peter Lamplugh Brougham, enjoyed their estates). From him descended John Brougham, of Brougham in Westmorland, and Scales Hall in Cumberland, who, dying without issue, was succeeded by his nephew, Henry Richmond Brougham, owner also of Highhead Castle, derived from his mother, the heiress of the Richmonds, and dying in 1749 was succeeded by Henry Brougham, the grandfather of Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux, the present owner of Brougham, Scales Hall, and Highhead Castle; a nobleman to whose genius the world owes much, and by whose active industry, science and literature have been so extensively served, and so largely promoted, for nearly half a century.

The castle-mansion is irregularly built, and with the court-yards and outer offices covers a vast extent of ground. The garden-court comprises on two of its sides nearly the whole of the buildings occupied by the family. At the lower end of this court is a massive arched entrance-gateway, which, together with the surrounding buildings, is very old and picturesque, clothed with a garb of most luxuriant ivy: of this we append an engraving.

In our lithotint print is shewn the western side of the Hall, considered to be the most ancient part of the structure. It is singularly solid in construction, the works being several yards in thickness. The large tower in the perspective contains the apartment formerly the Armoury. The terrace commands an extensive view of scenes rich in historic interest, and of great natural beauty; comprising in the distance the whole of the mountains of the Lake district, which rear their airy summits, chain upon chain, peak above peak, in almost countless numbers. Nearer, the eye ranges over thick woods, chequered here and there with grey rocks and quiet holms; while nearer, unseen, but plainly heard, the Lowther brawls over its rocky bed and through the wide arches of Lowther Bridge—a famous and most picturesque structure. Higher up the river, the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway passes over an immense viaduct, of which the three or four most central arches are distinctly visible from the Hall. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this scene on a clear sunny afternoon, when the dull red bridge is in shade; the light touched clearly but delicately along the parapet and down the inner sides of the shafted piers: the whole framed, as it were, in ponderous masses of richly coloured foliage, subdued and harmonised by ever-recurring passages of most delicious shade.

The interior contains many apartments of high interest: several of them having been renovated in the best possible taste, and in perfect harmony with the edifice. Our space will not permit us to describe them in detail. The Great Hall (of which we append an engraving) is a double cube forty feet by twenty, and twenty high; the roof supported by arches, with open spandrels, made of walnut-wood. The ceiling has been lately restored, having (at least the greater part of it) fallen to pieces through age and decay. The fireplace also has been restored. The windows (six in number) are filled with very fine stained glass, chiefly of the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century; the colours are singularly rich: it appears to be of German manufacture, and closely resembles the old glass at Nuremberg. There is a good deal of curious armour here; especially a very old and very perfect suit of Edward IV. or Richard III.’s time. The Armoury was a room about sixteen feet square at the top of the highest tower, with a fine oak roof, but is now used as a bed-room. All its contents were recently moved into the Hall, where, although seen to greater advantage, they have no longer the picturesque effect they must have had in their original situation.

In the Hall is a very old iron chest, with a lock in the lid which shoots twelve bolts by one key, that turns in the centre of the lid. This was probably used in ancient times to keep the vessels belonging to the chapel. The most curious relic in the Hall is an ivory horn (introduced as the initial letter), of very early workmanship, and used (as is believed) in the service of Cornage—an ancient border service, by which certain of the lands of Brougham are held. In former times this service consisted in blowing a horn from the top of the high tower, to give notice of the approach of an enemy (most usually the Scotch), so that the neighbouring barons might be prepared to resist the threatened attack; or the nearest beacon (which is on the top of Penrith Fell, and still in existence) might be lighted up to alarm the country. This service in later times was changed into a Corn rent, and hence it has been erroneously supposed that it was called Cornage: the original service, however, was that of blowing the horn. From its workmanship and ornaments this horn is evidently of Saxon times, and was probably used before the introduction of the cornage tenure as a warder’s horn. Over the chimney-piece in the old drawing-room are the arms of Edward VI. This room and many others in the house are rich in tapestry and old stamped leather.

“At the mansion of Browham stands a chapel of very ancient erection. In the year 1377, ‘Johannes de Burgham’ is said to have had ‘Capellam apud Browham, Sancto Wilfrido sacrum, ab antiquis temporibus fundatam,’ and that a Chaplain attended divine offices at it. Through process of time it becoming ruinous and neglected, it was lately repaird and beautify’d by the piety of Anne, Countess of Pembroke, A.D. 1659.”[69] In this chapel there was formerly a holy well, dedicated to St. Wilfred, which rose through the ancient font by a hole bored through the shaft (in which also was the waste-pipe) into the bowl. The hill near the chapel was cut through about fifty years ago, for the purpose of lowering the road, and from that time the spring which supplied the well was cut off, so that the water now only rises to the height of the chapel-floor: the loss of this singular remnant of antiquity is much to be lamented. There still remains the shrine, or a considerable portion of it, now fixed at the west end of the chapel, noticed by Leland in his “Itinerary,” and to which he says there was a great pilgrimage. The shrine at the east end consists of three compartments, of very remarkable carving, said to be by Albert Durer, but apparently, from the architecture of the canopy work, of an earlier date. It is said to have come from the church of St. Cunegonde at Cologne. The windows at the east end are early Anglo-Norman, and are filled with the earliest stained glass known in England. Two appear to have been repaired, and the broken parts replaced with glass of a more modern date. At one side of the altar, in the north wall, is the ancient “ambrie,” or small cupboard cut in the solid wall, in which were kept the vessels; some of these are still preserved, and are of great curiosity—the pix, now very rarely to be met with; the remonstrance, a small oblong box, either used as a reliquary, or, more probably, to contain the cruet or phial of sacred oil. These are gilt and finely enamelled, and are in a state of good preservation. The chalice and paten (silver gilt) are of great antiquity, and are also well preserved. The door of the ambrie is of black oak, curiously carved; on the back is fixed a very singular gilt and enamelled crucifixion, with a very remarkable representation of a glory above the head of our Saviour: this cross is of the very earliest age, probably of the sixth or eighth century. The sedilia, of black oak, still stands upon the raised part of the floor, on the south side of the altar; and the old drain, or piscina, is still to be seen. The oak carving, especially some of the stall ends, and the screen, are very fine, but have been extensively repaired. Some of the oak and stained glass, which appear formerly to have belonged to the chapel, are now in the great dining-hall; but what is left, still shews a richness and abundance of carving rarely to be met with in so small a space. Service is performed here whenever the family are resident, and generally by the Rector, after his duty at the parish church is over.

The situation of the parish church is remarkable. It is placed on the borders of a meadow, close to the river Eamont, at a point where there is a ford, in a direct line from the Roman way to Carlisle, and nearer than by Brovoniacum. It is above two miles from the nearest village, called Woodside, and still further from the place where the town of Brougham formerly stood: there is no trace of any habitations having ever existed near it.

Stukeley, who visited this part of Westmorland about 1724, and wrote his account of it in 1725, after describing the British circus or camp on the banks of the Lowther, called King Arthur’s Round Table, directly opposite to Brougham, says,—“This is the most delightful place that can be imagined for recreation; the rapid river Louther runs all along the side of it: the Eamont joins it a little way off in view. Beyond is a charming view of a vast wood, and of Brougham; beyond that the ancient Roman city, and the Roman road going along under the high hill, whereon is the beacon.”—Vol. II. p. 43.

After describing various British remains which abound in this neighbourhood, he proceeds:—“In the pasture on the eastern bank of the Louther, in the way to Clifton, are several cairns, or carrachs as the Scotch call them, made of dry stones heaped together; also many other monuments of stones, 3, 4, 5, set upright together. They are generally by the country-people said to be done by Michael Scott—a noted conjuror in their opinion, who was a monk of Holme Abbey, in Cumberland. They have a notion, too, that one Turquin, a giant, lived at Brougham, and that Sir Lancelot du Lake lived at Mayborough and slew him.”—P. 45. Stukeley accompanies his description by a view of Brougham, as seen rising from the midst of fine old trees (most of which are now cut down), with King Arthur’s Round Table in the foreground.