Bramham House

Bramham House is located in Bramham which is near Leeds in West Yorkshire. It now sits derelict.

The house was built by the vicar of Bramham, Rev. Robert Brown in 1806 but soon sold it to James Fox of Bramham Park who gave it as a wedding present to his son George Lane Fox. George Lane Fox became heavily into debt through gambling, earning the nick name, George the Gambler. He moved out of Bramham House and into Bramham Park, a large stately home that he inherited from his father James in 1821. He did not live there long as the park was gutted by fire in 1828. He moved back to Bramham House for a while until he bought Bowcliffe Hall in 1841. By the time he died, George had amassed a huge debt of £232,799. His son, also called George sold Bramham House in 1856 as part of his quest to rebuild the Lane Foxes fortune.

John R. Gregson bought the house from the Lane Foxes, but it was soon to change hands again and again. It ended up in the hands of Major John Lister Ingham of Wighill in 1914 who then sold it to Captain George Taylor Ramsden in 1924. He died while out shooting in 1936.

Bramham House was acquired by the West Riding County Council in 1947 because the Children's and Young Persons Act. It was set up as a family group home, accommodating neglected and homeless children. A local government re-organisation in 1974 caused the house to fall under Leeds Social Services. This changed the way the house was run as they forced 'delinquents' on remand from the Courts to stay at the house which undermined the way the House was run as the attitude of these temporary residents to both the staff and to the children was unacceptable, as was the unhealthy interest shown by the more 'impressionable' children.

Bramham House closed in the early 1980's, the once happy home now stands derelict with the gardens neglected and unkempt.