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Bramshill House (photo by Andrew Smith, 2006)
'Bramshill House' is a
Jacobean mansion standing in 269
acres of land in the
civil parish of
Bramshill in north-east
Hampshire in
England. It has been the location of the
Police Staff College since
1960.
Reference to Bramshill (or ''Bromeselle'') can be traced back to
Saxon times. In the
14th century, it was the home of Thomas Foxley, who rebuilt
Windsor Castle for the Crown. He appears to have used masons from Windsor in erecting a small
castle or fortified
manor house at Bramshill. Their work can still be seen in the cellars of the present house. In
1605,
Edward Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth, bought the property from Sir
Stephen Thornhurst of
Agnes Court,
Kent. He demolished a large part of the building and began to build the Bramshill house of today. This was completed in
1612. In
1622, while hunting in the park,
George Abbot,
Archbishop of Canterbury accidentally shot and killed one of the keepers with his cross-bow. It almost caused his downfall.
In
1699, the property was purchased by Sir John Cope whose family continued to lived there for the next three hundred years. Bramshill is said to be the most haunted house in Hampshire. Its most famous ghost is that of the
Mistletoe Bride, thought to have been a member of Sir John's family. Later, the house was the home of
Lord Brocket, and of the exiled
King Michael I of Romania.