Belgrave Hall

Queen Anne style Grade II* listed building in Belgrave

Belgrave Hall is a Queen Anne style Grade II* listed building in Belgrave. It is located on the northern edge of the city of Leicester.

Belgrave Hall was built as a substantial family home between 1709 and 1713 by Edmund Cradock, a Leicester hosiery merchant, on a site adjacent to Belgrave Church. It was built in the midst of of walled gardens in Belgrave, Leicester. Within two years of its completion, both Edmund and Ann passed away, and the property underwent numerous changes in ownership. It was owned by the Simons family for 45 years, the Vann family for 78 years, (during which time they also built the nearby Belgrave House), the Ellis family for 76 years, and Thomas Morley for 13 years. In 1936, it was bought by Leicester City Council, at which point it became a museum. The council recently made the decision to use the house and gardens as a heritage site rather than a museum, and it is now only open at certain times during the summer months. It is also available for private functions, such as weddings and ghost watches.

At the time of construction, Belgrave was a small village three miles from Leicester, between the roads to Loughborough and Lincoln. Belgrave Hall set a trend for wealthy businessmen to build themselves out of town houses in the area. There are lead rainwater heads with the Cradock family crest, some of which have a 1709 date and others with 1713. This unusually long construction period, along with brickwork and ground plan irregularities on the south side, may imply a re design or halt to construction while building was underway. The road frontage has imposing wrought iron gates which incorporate an 'EC' monogram leading to a recessed doorway, and a brick parapet which hides the three hipped gables of the roof, creating a very rectangular facade.

Edmund Cradock (cousin of Edmund Cradock of Knighton and nephew of Henry Hastings of Belgrave Old Hall) and his wife Anne are presumed to have moved into what was then known as 'The Mansion House' by 1713. However, Edmund died while visiting Bath on 21 April 1715, two years after the house was completed. In accordance with Edmund’s will, his married daughter Jane was to be given £1,000, and the remaining assets were to be divided equally between the two younger children, both called Anne and Edmund. William, the eldest son, in 1776 built himself a new house on the other side of the road from the Hall, named Belgrave House. It was built in a 'sleek, classical style', and is a grade II* listed building. The gardens on that side of Church Road were divided between the two properties. William became High Sheriff of Leicestershire for the year 1785, and died in 1794. Richard and James continued in the Hall, and when Richard died unmarried in 1796, the Hall and his half of the estate passed to James. In the previous year James had married Hannah Clayton (daughter of John Clayton, MA, Vicar of Belgrave 1759–1796), he then aged 49 and she 38. In 1803 James, like his brother William, served a year as High Sheriff of Leicestershire. None of the brothers had any children. James died in 1812, and by his will left the Hall and estate to his wife Hannah for her lifetime, and then to his cousin, Ann Hunt. Hannah survived her husband by 32 years and died in 1844, by which time Ann Marston was dead. Ann had, long before, married into the Marston family of Enderby. She was survived by her Marston descendants; and therefore the Belgrave Estate, which had by then become heavily mortgaged, passed to Anne's heirs and was sold by them in 1845 to John Ellis, a railway entrepreneur.

John Ellis took possession of Belgrave Hall in 1847, when he was 58, with a wife and seven daughters. By the time he moved from Beaumont Leys to the Hall, he was one of Leicester's most prominent figures. Having moved to his elegant 140 year old house, he continued both his railway and public life roles. In 1828 he had met George Stephenson, who having completed the Stockton and Darlington Railway, was working on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Ellis was a key figure in getting the Stephensons to take on the building of a line from Leicester to the Swannington coalfields, which was completed in 1833. He was a Quaker and reformer, and in 1836 Ellis had become a Town Councillor. In 1840 he had attended the World's Anti Slavery Convention. By 1845, as a director of the Midland Railway, he had overseen the merger with the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. In 1849 he became chairman of the Midland Railway, and represented Leicester in Parliament between 1848 and 1852. John Ellis died in 1862, and his wife and five of his daughters stayed on at Belgrave Hall. The sisters valued the gardens and grounds. Recalling their arrival, Gertrude wrote, 'The east side of the house was festooned by an enormous vine, and a few weeks later the flowers that haunt old gardens began to appear. Some of these may have been blooming for a hundred years and still as each spring returns, renew their life! The daffodils amongst the paddock grass, the lungwort, the peonies, and the great orange lilies ' In 1889 they bought the meadowland that had gone with Belgrave House, re establishing the parkland beside the river, and established a woodland garden. Margaret, the last of the daughters, died in 1923, 76 years after they arrived.

After Margaret's death, the Hall was sold to Thomas Morley, a Leicester hosiery manufacturer. In 1936 it was sold again for £10,500 to the Corporation of Leicester, who opened it as a museum and public gardens. On the opposite side of the road is the parkland running down to the river. This was at various times the gardens for Belgrave Hall and Belgrave House, but is now known as Belgrave Gardens, and is open to the public. Two acres of gardens at the back of the Hall are open to public on Wednesdays and first full weekend of every month during summer season, which runs from April to September. These retain features first laid out by John Ellis in 1850, with formal garden features, walled kitchen gardens and glass houses. The formal gardens now also contain statues and monuments from 'lost' Leicestershire Gardens, such as the memorial to Edward Holdsworth from Gopsall hall. Hannah Vann's will, at her death in 1842, notes the statues as items she hoped could stay in the family. Twelve appear to have been taken to Enderby by her heirs, where they were locally known as the 'Twelve Apostles', but have since been dispersed and mostly not been traced. Of the four that remain, perhaps because they were larger and less easily moved, two are in the formal gardens, and may be Throsby's 'Ceres' and 'Hercules'. The other two stand inside what were once the gates to Belgrave House, now part of Belgrave Gardens, and are both statues of the Greek god Telamon, but may be what Throsby describes as the two Emperors.

In 1999, Belgrave Hall became famous across the world when two ghostly figures were recorded on security cameras outside the Hall. The ISPR (International Society for Paranormal Research) examined the footage and decided the image was environmental in nature rather than paranormal, namely a falling leaf, but went on to 'identify' quite a few cold spots and 'residual forces'. The building remained of interest to ghost hunters long after this sighting was explained. Living TV's Most Haunted crew investigated here in 2003 with celebrity guests Vic Reeves and his wife Nancy Sorrell. Belgrave Hall was featured on the 26 June 2012 episode of Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.