Belgrave Hall
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 and in the midst of 2 acres of walled gardens. Within two years of its completion Edmund Craddock died, and the property then underwent numerous changes in ownership. It was owned by the Simons family for 45 years before being bought by William Southwell, a linen draper from Nottingham who, along with his brother-in-law, William Vann, based their framework knitting business at the Hall utilising the substantial outhouses for warehousing and office space and employing many local knitters as outworkers.
The Vann family owned the property for 78 years, during which time they also built the nearby Belgrave House, before it was sold in 1845 to the railway entrepreneur and Leicester MP John Ellis. In 1862 John Ellis died but his wife and five of his daughters stayed on at Belgrave Hall. The “Belgrave sisters” played a leading role in various Leicester institutions and hosted literary and social events at the Hall. They supported the suffragette movement, and Charlotte Ellis was a member of the Leicester Board of Guardians for nine years, she also administered the town’s poor law relief from 1892. Margaret, the last of the daughters, died in 1923, 76 years after they arrived, and the Hall was sold to Thomas Morley, a Leicester hosiery manufacturer.
John Ellis
In 1936 it was sold again for £10,500 to the Corporation of Leicester who opened it as a museum and public gardens. The museum was furnished to present a moderately well-to-do eighteenth and early-nineteenth century household. The furniture came from a wide variety of sources, some of it, such as the lion-mask chairs and settee in the Drawing Room, from much grander settings than this. A refit in 2005 added more details about the servants quarters and shows the contrasting lifestyles of an upper-middle-class family and domestic servants in Victorian society.
In 2012 Leicester City Council announced plans to close Belgrave Hall as a free-to-enter public museum and turn it into an events / wedding venue.
The Belgrave Hall Conservation Area Society is an independent group dedicated to retaining the past, maintaining the present and securing the future of the historic Belgrave Hall area of Leicester. Although the issue with Belgrave Hall is a major part of their work, they are also concerned with other matters including the future of St. Peter’s Church and planning applications submitted that may have an impact on the Conservation Area.
You can find more information about the Belgrave Hall Conservation Area Society at https://www.bhcas.org
JOHN PARKER
1st September 2024
