Bradgate House

Grade II* listed Bradgate House was a grand, Tudor mansion with chapel that was built in the former medieval deer park of Bradgate, around 1490 by Thomas Grey, the 1st Marquis of Dorset. One of the earliest brick-built, grand houses to be built in England.

Lady Jane Grey was born at Bradgate House in 1537 and was briefly queen in 1553.

Bradgate House became derelict in the mid-18th Century and has been a tourist attraction for many years (although marked Temporarily Closed in 2022).

Bradgate House, the chapel, watermill and surrounding gardens are a scheduled monument:

‘The house standing within Bradgate Park is, together with Kirby Muxloe Castle, one of the earliest brick built buildings in Leicestershire and is an early example of a country house built without defences. The house survives well and, together with a formal garden and watermill site, is an important medieval complex demonstrating the wealth of the very highest level of late medieval society. It was the birth place of Lady Jane Grey, who became Queen of England, and was also visited by William III a century later’.

Created: 28  November  2022  Edited: 29  November  2023