>From Genealogical Memoranda of the Quisenberry and other Families.
Published January 25, 1897 by Anderson Chenault Quisenberry, Washington,
D.C. pages 129 - 137. Chapter XII. The Broomhall Family.

The Broomhall family originated in England, where it is still numerously represented, its members being generally people of standing and responsibility, socially and financially. The name of the family is one derived from "place", as the philologists would say. That is, some manor called Broomhall, or Broome Hall, gave the name to the family owning or occupying it at the time when English families began to assume surnames and the family, in its turn, afterwards gave names to various places, as, for instance, there are now villages called Broomhall in Surrey, Worchestershire, Shropshire and Cheshire; as is also Lord Elgin's seat in Scotland. The city of Sheffield has a Broomhall Church, Broomhall Park, Broomhall street and Broomhall lane. Broomhall is also the designation of various other localities and places throughout England.
The name Broomhall, like all other English names, has undergone many variations. Some of its variants are Broomall, Bramall, Brummell, Bromhall, Bromall, Bramhall, Bramell, Broomwell and Brumall...
Concerning the Broomhalls of England, Squire John Broomhall of Beerscroft (generation #3 of the linked page) writes (December 1, 1888) as follows:
"The earliest account which I have of my family is March 7, 1585, just three hundred and three years ago (vide the Early Chronicles of Shrewsbury, page 315, in the third volume of the Shropshire Archaeological Society), where it is stated, inter alia, that on that date John Broomhall and his two men were all three drowned while coming down the river Severn. The next is in the same book 234, when, in 1747, John Broomhall took part in an election for a member of Parliament. It is stated, inter alia, in volume 8 of the same history, that the name of Thomas Broomhall was affixed to the Subsidy Roll in the Castle Ward, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1571..."

Origins of the Name "Broomhall"

(as prepared by A.J."Jim" Broomhall of East Sussex, c.1990)

BRIEFLY:

In some parts of Britain, notable houses acquired the name Broom Hall from the shrub associated with them. The Saxon for a nook where broom grows was ‘halh’ or ‘hale’, but ‘hala’ meant a hall or manor (Dodgson, J M), However, the Bramall, Bramhall, Bromhall, Broomhall of Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and west Yorkshire probably came from two place-names derived from the Saxon owners and adopted by the Normans who replaced them. One at least (and probably both) places originated from BRUN, one of the Saxons, and his ‘hala’. Both names are attested in the Domesday Survey of Cheshire. Elucidation of the records is not easy.

MORE FULLY:

In the 1086 Norman Domesday Survey, BRUN and HACUN had previously held the two manors at BRAMALE (now BRAMHALL near Stockport). Brun also "held lands elsewhere":
EDRIC and EDRIC held the divided manor of BRUNHALA (Brun’s Hall), south-west of NANTWICH, Salop (Shropshire). According to Domesday, Brunhala was "iuxta Cowel (Coole), iuxta Sonde (Sound), iuxta Badynton (Badington), and iuxta Aston in Newhall; Aston was iuxta Wrennebury". After the conquest the Saxons were ejected and their lands were granted to Normans. BRAMALE (Bramhall) was granted to HAIMO (Hamo, Hamon) DE MASCI (Mascy, Massey &c) as part of the barony of Dunham Massey, the the Macclesfield Hundred. It is linked historically with Brunhala = Bromhale = Broomhall near Wrenbury and Nantwich, through the family of Hamo de Masci, the first baron.

BRAMHALL (Maccles.) The third baron of Dunham (in Henry II = 1154-89) confirmed to Mathew de Bromale: "the manors of Bramall, Duckenfield and 11 parts of Baggiley which had been previoulsy held by his father, whose name is not mentioned but who was probably youunger son of near kinsman of Hamo deMasci, the Norman Grantee". (Ormerod p 823). Then, in 6 Edwd I (=1272-1307) "Richard de Bromhall obtained release (ie. exemption) for himself and his tenants in Bromhall, Duckenfield and 11 parts of Baguley (sic) from Hamon de Massey, for being impleaded in the courts of Dunham. He is called Sir Richard in the pedigrees of this family, ‘son of William, son of John, son of Edward’, and is allowed for his armorial coat, Sable, a lion rampant Or". [ie. gold on black], as in the early seals of the lords of Dunham. This Richard also occurs in 17 Edwd I (=1289). His son lived in the reigns of the three Edwards, and was succeeded by his brother Sir Geoffrey de Bromhale whose daughter and co-heiress Ales (=Alice) married John de Davenport, son of Thomas de Davenport of Weltrogh or Wheltrough. BRAMHALL therefore, passed to the Davenports.

Other Bromhalls, using Brammall of Bramhall, and spreading into Yorkshire, are notable for John Bramhall, achbishop of ‘Armach’ (1594-1663), and for Field Marshal Baron Bramall, Chief of General Staff (1979-82).

"The Davenport descendants of John and Alice through Robert and Robert were John, 3rd lord of Bromhale, aged 21 in 1440; William and William, 56 in 1528 (Bramall Hall was built in c15-16). Sir William (kt.1544, d.1576) "held the manor of Bromhall from the heirs of Hamon de Mascye(sic) [see John and Alice] by the military service of one of the haubergeon and £53.19.6 per annum".
[His grandson William, knighted aged 23 in 1586, was Sherriff of Cheshire, 1605. His brother Humphrey (kt.1619) became Lord Baron of the Exchequer, (d.1644-5). Sir William’s "Manor of Bromhall" appears to refer to Bromhall (Nant.) as now shown:

BRUNHALA (Brun’s Hall), Later Broomhall, was granted to Willelmus (William) MALDEBENG, later MALBANK, son of Nigel. Brunhala, 1086, became Bromhale, 1096-1101; Bromale, 1308-1475; Brumhale, 1379; Bromhall in 1303, 1389, 1623, 1882; Bromehall, 1379, 1486, 1623; Bromall Green, 1695; Broomhall, 1462, 1508, 1831; and other variations until the spelling was standardised as BROOMHALL. The moated manor was discarded and rebuilt outside the moat as Mickley Hall: (micel = ‘big clearing’; legh = field).

In 1272 (1 Edwd I) James de Audley died in legal possession of Bromhale while William de Chetilton held absolute ownership. But by 1288 (16 Edwd I) the baron of Wich Malbank had been divided and the rights of Bromhale (Broomhall) had passed with Eleanor Malbank’s share to the Audleys. For in 1307 (1 Edwd II) Amicia, lady of Bromhall, widow, gave Robert de Chetilton the house and lands of Broomhall, called ‘The Hall’, and the whole village and adjoining wood.

In Edward III (1327-77) "the manor of Bromhale" passed to William de Bromley [again, legh’ and ‘leah’ = field; cf Audley, in 1424 ‘Audelegh’.] But in 1397 (20 Ric II) John and Alice Davenport still held part of the barony, for they granted to chaplain High de Toft the Manor of Bromhale in the Nantwich Hundred, another manor and the 20th part of Wich Malbank, including BROMHALE and Coole in the parish of Wrenbury, SW of Nantwich.
The family of de Bromley held their rights, however, until Henry VII (1485-1501); they subsequently passed to Lord Kilmorey. G. Ormerod wrote in C19, "A great number of the old houses in this township have been destroyed during the last half-century". Broomhall contained 1291 acres of land, but today the old village scarcely exists, and the twentieth century village has no notable characteristics. People surnamed Broomhall, Bromhall, Brommall, Brammall, &c, are widely scattered between Chester and Shrewsbury, Manchester, and Birmingham, elsewhere in Britain, and to the far corners of the earth.

The Broomhall fo NORTHWOOD, WEM, dated from 1561. Many feature in lists of 1610 onwards. The earliest dates found for Shrewsbury Broomhalls seem to be in 1609 (Rev. Andrew Bromhall, ‘The Intruder’ of Maiden Newton, Dorset; and James Broomhall, 1729, marred to a Pitchford (qv). The family tradition that the forebears of Charles Broomhall, ofBradeley, Staff., came from Shropshire has not yet been supported by the discovery of historical evidence.

SOURCES:

Tait, E J: The Domesday Survey of Chesire
Burton, A: The History of Bramhall Vol 1 The Manor
Higginbotham, H: Stockport Ancient and Modern 2.123
Ormerod, G: The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester 3.399
Dodgson, J Mcn: Place Names of Cheshire
Bagshaw, S: The History of Cheshire / Chester