Headlam Hall

Henry Birkbeck (1564-1637) built Headlam Hall around the time of his marriage in 1606 to Anne Brackenbury.

As a present for his wife he had an elaborate oak fireplace installed in the main hall with the Birkbeck coat of arms displayed in the centre of the mantle.

John Richard Walbran in 1846 says it was a richly ornamented fireplace in the centre compartment of which “is a mantled shield, hearing a fess gobony, between three lions heads erased, a crescent for difference ; impaling three chevronels interlaced — the arms of Henry Birkbeck, Esq.”[3] When Henry died in 1637 his only child Eleanor inherited the Hall.

Henry was a personal friend of George Fox the founder of the Quaker religion and it is recorded that he was a guest at Headlam Hall on several occasions.

[5] When he died in 1736 their only surviving child Ann Clark who had married Lawrence Brockett inherited the house.

Lawrence Brockett (1724-1768) went to Trinity College at the University of Cambridge in 1743 and was appointed the Professor of Modern History in 1762.

He died in 1853 and his wife Mary Ann continued to live at Headlam Hall with their eldest son John Hett (1839-1899).

[11] After Mary Ann’s death their son John Hett (1839-1899) lived at Headlam hall for some time.

Jack Pease, as he was known, enjoyed an early life of wealth and privilege in one of Britain's most prominent family dynasties.

[16] Sir John Lionel Reginald Blunt 10th Baronet (1908-1969)[17] lived at Headlam Hall for the next four years until his second marriage in 1947.

He left the house to his wife Rosalie Mary Stobart (who in 1960 married Major Seed)[18] and his children.