Life at Blakesley Hall in Tudor Times.

Blakesley Hall, Yardley

A man called Richard Smalbroke owned Blakesley Hall.

He was rich.

He and his brother, Thomas, were important businessmen in the town of Birmingham. Richard decided to spend some of his money by building a new house on the farmland he owned in the countryside near the village of Yardley, 10 miles away from the noisy, dirty town.

The house was finished in 1590 and Richard moved in.

Richard and his family.

Richard married his first wife, Margaret, in 1568. They had three children. Margaret died in 1573, and Richard married again. His second wife was called Elizabeth.

Richard Smalbroke

The signature of Richard Smalbroke. He thought of himself as a gentleman and signed Mr. Richard Smalbroke.

Richard Smalbroke's signature

Elizabeth Kinnersley

Elizabeth Kinnersley married Richard in the mid 1570s. It must have been difficult for her to take on a ready made family!

Study the family tree and work out how many children she had to look after. Were they all Richard's children?

How do we know?

Some of the information is in the parish register for Yardley.

What else happened to make 1573 such a sad year for Richard?


When Margaret died, her children, Robert and Joan, were very small. Robert was the eldest, aged about 4 years. How old was Joan? You may need to check the parish register page again!

Have you noticed Robert's clothes? Little boys in Tudor England wore 'petticoats' until they were about 6 years old. How can you tell these children are from a rich family?

Joan and Robert


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