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Bolling Hall Museum Bradford |
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The existing building was done in 1370 and extended in the 1400s, before this the manor consisted of wooden framed buildings, the first reference of a manor at Bolling was in the Doomsday Book in 1086 the owner being called Sindi, but in that same year it was owned by Albert De Laci who was given it by the King for his help in the Battle of Hastings. It is not known how long they stayed for, but by 1316 it belonged to William Bolling.
 When the War of the Roses was happening the head of the household was Robert Bolling he was accused of high treason and his home and estate was taken from him, but he begged for it to be returned and it was in 1475.
In 1446 Robert betrothed his son Tristam to Beatrice Caverly (both under 12) Tristam inherited it in 1487. They had only one surviving child a daughter Rosamund who married a Tempest, Richard in 1497, following her fathers death, the house and land became hers, therefore passing it to the Tempest family. They extended the houses adding many rooms including kitchens, bedrooms and a great hall.
Richard was knighted in 1513, somehow he managed to get involved in The Rebellion of Northern Gentry in 1536 and was arrested he died in prison whilst awaiting trail in 1537.
Rosamund continued with the estate until her death in 1553, her oldest surviving son John succeeded her. He had no children so on his death it passed to his brother Nicholas.
At the beginning of the Civil War the last Tempest, Richard fought for the King and Bolling Hall was used as Royalist Headquarters in 1643, he later changed sides and was fined £1,748 for his part in the war, this put him in financial difficulty. In 1649 he sold Bolling Hall to Henry Savile, in 1657 Richard died a debtor in Fleet Prison.
In 1668 it was sold to Francis Lindley a barrister, he died a year later and his wife continued to run the estate until her son came of age, he lived there till his death in 1734, and his wife Caroline looked after it on behalf of their son Walter who was declared a 'lunatic'.
Walter died in 1760 and it was passed on to a cousin Thomas Pigott, he died in 1770 and it passed to his cousin Captain Charles Wood. After 1870 it was divided into tenements and several families lived there. In 1912 the then owner Mr G A Paley gave it to the City of Bradford and in 1915 it opened as a period house and museum to the local public.
The ghost of the house are as well documented as the history and reports go back to 1643 when the Earl of Newcastle the head of the Royalist Army felt his bedclothes being pulled and he saw a women wringing her hands saying' pity poor Bradford', this led him to change his orders and instead of kill all in Bradford he told troops to kill those who offered resistance as a result only ten people died.
Once a newspaper offered a reward of £50 if any could manage to stay the night at the hall, the offer was never taken up.
Over the years and still ongoing others things that have been seen and heard are, babies crying, a distressed women as been seen in what once was the nursery, in the blue room a man wearing long coat tails, a female ghost dressed in pink, the sound of rattling can be heard by the Georgian stairwell, there have been dragging noises and a ladies voice has been heard.
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