History

Five centuries of stories

The hotel went through the English Civil War, was pulled down and rebuilt again and welcomed the most different audiences. It gave a home to the Ward-Boughton-Leigh family, hosted a department of the English Electric Company and inspired Sir Frank Whittle to create the jet engine. Read further and learn more about the history of these age-old walls!

15th century

The Ward-Boughton-Leigh family can trace their origins back to the 15th Century where the Boughton family appear to have played a very active role in the Civil War.

1850s

In the 1850’s the original Brownsover Hall was pulled down and Sir John Ward-Boughton-Leigh commissioned Sir George Gilbert Scott to design a new house in the Gothic Revival style, which was very fashionable at the time. Scott’s works also include The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, the Midland Railway Terminus Hotel at St Pancras and the Foreign Office in Whitehall, all in London.

Although the original property was demolished, some of the former out-buildings still exist today, as well as the walled kitchen garden.

What is now The Gilbert Scott Restaurant was originally the chapel of the house, a fact which probably accounts for the arched windows and the high paneled ceiling. It may also explain the stone arches of the Cloisters area of the hotel.

Early 20th century

Brownsover Hall eventually ceased to be a family home after almost a century.

From 1949 until the end of 1960’s

The English Electric Company used the building from 1949 until the late 1960’s where they housed the headquarters of their Diesel Division.

Present day

The Hall was converted into a hotel in the 1970s.