Description:Bromwich Hall is a Grade I listed timber-framed building situated in Hall Green Road, West Bromwich. It has also been known as Old Hall, West Bromwich Hall and West Bromwich Manor House. At the time this photograph was taken it was the Manor House public house and restaurant.
The oldest part is the Great Hall, built around 1270 for Richard de Marnham. The moat which surrounds the house probably dates from the same time. The original house has been greatly altered, with north and south wings added in the early 15th century, a chapel and kitchen block in the early 16th century, and the gatehouse around 1590-1600. By the mid 20th century, it was derelict, having been divided into tenements in the 18th century, but when it came into the ownership of the local council in 1953 investigations revealed that it was an important medieval building. Restoration took place between 1957 and 1961: the timber-framing was revealed, 18th and 19th century extensions were removed, and the moat was excavated. In 1961, Ansell’s Brewery took over the management and ran it as a public house and restaurant named the Manor House. When the pub closed in 2009, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council carried out some restoration and opened it a year later as Bromwich Hall, West Bromwich Manor House Museum. It is now one of the most important surviving medieval timber framed buildings in the Midlands, and the construction of its Great Hall is thought to be the earliest of its type in the country in a standing building.
This view from the east shows, from left to right, the 16th century Kitchen Block, the South Wing (early 15th century), the Gatehouse (built around 1590-1600), and the Chapel (early 16th century).