| Notes | Broomhead Hall stood at the head of the Ewden Valley in Bolsterstone approximately 11 miles north west of Sheffield.
The Wilsons of Broomhead can be traced back to the 13th century, descended from one Robert Wilson, who in 1281 married Hawise, a daughter of Thomas Sheffield, Lord of Bolderstone in the reign on Edward I.
The early line of the Wilsons of Broomhead is as follows: Robert Wilson had a son John, who in turn married Joan, the daughter of Sir Robert Rous of Onesacre. Their son Adam born c. 1307, at the end of the reign of Edward I, married the daughter of Sir Elias de Midhope, and their son John (born 1365) held lands at West-thorpe in Hoyland Sweyen in right of his wife, Agnes Hunshelf. John and Agnes Wilson had three children (two sons and a daughter) the elder of whom John (born 1406) married Julian, daughter and co-heir of John, son of Henry de Broomhead.
From this time onwards, the family line continued from father to eldest son (William Wilson, to John Wilson, to Chistopher Wilson [died c. 1492], to John Wilson the younger, to Richard Wilson, to Christopher Wilson [1524 - 1591], to Reginald Wilson) until 1594 when Reginald Wilson died unmarried. The estates then passed to Reginald's brother Christopher Wilson (c. 1555 - 1622) who made many purchases of land in the vicinity of his house at Broomhead, which he settled on his five sons, the eldest of whom Christopher Wilson (1595 - 1671) became a captain in the Parliamentary Army in the English Civil War.
Christopher Wilson was a great favourite of Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Lord Strafford) and during his father's lifetime lived chiefly at Wentworth Woodhouse. On his father's death in 1622, Christopher Wilson came into possesion of the family home at Broomhead and the following year, on 29 October 1623, he married Mary, the eldest of three daughters of Rev. John Ibbotson of Wigtwisel. During the English Civil War Mary is purported to have successfully defended the family home at Broomhead from a siege by Royalist soldiers (with her husband away serving in the Parliamentarian Army). Christopher Wilson rebuilt the house at Broomhead which was completed in 1640 and stood for a further 200 years. Christopher and Mary had 9 sons.
The Rev. Charles Wilson (c. 1631 - 1703) was the third of the 9 sons of Christopher and Mary Wilson. He became Vicar of Kimbolton and later Vicar of Babworth (Nottinghamshire) before becoming Vicar of Sheffield in 1681. In 1695 he resigned the Vicarage of Sheffield and went to live at Broomhead. The Rev. Charles Wilson had inherited the family estate because his oldest brother Thomas (born c. 1626) was rendered incapable of managing his affairs (apparently through intense study!) and his second oldest brother, Christopher, had died in 1638, aged just 10. In 1661 Rev. Charles Wilson married Ann, daughter of John Allott, Rector of Little Thurlow Uratting in Suffolk, and they had 14 children.
John Wilson (1672 - 1735) was the third son of Rev. Charles and Ann Wilson and inherited the Broomhead property on his father's death in 1703 (his older two brothers having died in infancy). In 1711 he married Mary Macro (1688 - 1761), third daughter of Thomas and Susan Macro of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and sister of Cox Macro of Norton and Little Hagh, Suffolk, who was Chaplain to King George I. Thomas Macro was one of the Aldermen of Bury, a Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1703.
John Wilson (1719 - 1783), son of John and Mary Wilson, was only 16 at the time of his father's death when he inherited the estate. John Wilson married Susannah, daughter of Joseph Oats of Nether Denby, on 11 September 1746. John Wilson was known as 'The Antiquary' for his love of antiquarian pursuits and he assembled a large collection of deeds and documents, preserving a vast amount of historical source relating to the district of "Hallamshire". The Rev. John Hunter, in his seminal work History of Hallamshire, drew extensively on the deeds and papers of John Wilson (some of which survive in the following collection, but the greater part of which are now in the Brotherton Library - see custodial history and related material below for further details).
John Wilson (1747 - 1810), the oldest son of the antiquary and heir to Broomhead, lived in London and never resided at Broomhead. At his death in 1810, the property passed from the oldest branch to a younger branch of the same family. John Wilson left the estate to his widow Rebecca, sister of General Gent, who sold the ancient inheritance of the Wilsons to her relative Henry Wilson (born 1758) of Upper Tooting (Surrey) and the City of London (merchant). Henry Wilson was the son of Christopher Wilson (1726 - 1811) who in turn was son of Christopher Wilson (1681 - 1730) the youngest son of Rev. Charles Wilson (c. 1631 - 1703).
Henry Wilson erected a new house at Broomhead (completed in 1831), which he left to his nephew James Rimington (son of his sister Mary Rimington [1764 - 1838], wife of John Rimington of Hillsborough Hall [c. 1760 - 1821]) on condition that those succeeding him should assume the name of Wilson.
For further details of the Rimington-Wilsons and Broomhead Hall Deeds see the separate Broomhead Hall Deeds catalogue (Ref. BHD). |