Celebrate
Blakesley Hall is a timber-framed
manor house built in 1590 for a
wealthy Birmingham businessman called
Richard Smalbroke.
Surrounded by farmland, woods
and streams, it formed a small
country
estate for Richard, who lived
there in fine gentlemanly style.
To celebrate the birth of his
new grandaughter, Richard decided
to invite his friends and neighbours
to the Hall. His wife, Mistress
Elizabeth Smalbroke Sr. daughter
Joan, Robert's wife, Mistress
Elizabeth Smalbroke Jr. and the
servants prepared the feast while
Richard and his son Robert organised
the entertainment.
Barbara Smalbroke, Richard's
grandaughter, was born in November
1593. She lived to be 86 years
old. Can you work out the year
that she died?
As a young woman she married first,
Henry Devereux, then Aylmer Foliot.
She had thirteen children - eleven
boys and two girls! They all lived
at Blakesley Hall in the 1600s.
Preparing
for a feast...
