page_title: Bradwall
section_title: Bradwall Reformatory School for Boys
hierarchical_section_title: Bradwall / History / Seat of Bradwall / Bradwall Reformatory School for Boys
caption_attribution_description: English: Former Bradwall Reformatory School in Bradwall
context_page_description: Bradwall is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, about 2 mi northwest of Sandbach in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, and about 20 mi south of Manchester. According to the 2011 census, the population of the entire parish was 182. The area is predominantly agricultural, with no manufacturing or retail outlets.
  The village is not mentioned in the 11th-century Domesday survey, but from the 13th century gained notability as the manorial estate of Richard de Bradwall and his successors, including the families of Venables, Berington and Oldfield. From the early 19th century, it became the seat of the Latham family of Bradwall who resided at Bradwall Hall until its demolition in the early 20th century.
  Bradwall hosts social events at the Village Hall, horse trial competitions at Manor farm, and coarse fishing at Field Farm Fisheries. The Wesleyan Chapel Methodist Church has been the only place of worship since 1882 and closed in September 2013. The manufacturer of Foden Trucks and their award-winning Fodens Motor Works Band, were based in Bradwall until a boundary change in 1936 placed them in the adjacent parish of Sandbach.
context_section_description: Bradwall Reformatory School was built by George William Latham (1827–1886) on his own property at Bradwall Hall, in 1855, and aimed to reform delinquent boys through the use of an industrial labour apprenticeship. A report to the House of Commons in 1861 reported that:
  "There were 58 boys in the school when I inspected it. [...] I was glad to find that more of the ordinary farming processes were being resorted to; the plough and other common agricultural machines employed, so that the training of the lads as farm servants would be gradually made more complete than the use of spade labour allows of. The books are well kept. The punishments had been much fewer, chiefly fines or loss of privilege. [...] :The cost per head for the year was 18l. 9s. 11d."
  Notable detainees included two eight-year-old boys, Peter Barratt and James Bradley, who on 11 April 1861 abducted and killed two-year-old George Burgess. They were charged with manslaughter, and sentenced by the judge Sir Charles Crompton to be sent to the Reformatory at Bradwall, which "was to rank as the most enlightened and successful institution of its kind in the country". Another detainee was one Joshua Tolley who was sent to Bradwall in 1871 at the age of eight. He was in and out of reform school until the age of 16, but as a persistent offender, served sentences in Knutsford and Dartmoor prisons.
  George William Latham's cousin, Charles Latham (1816–1907) was surgeon to the Bradwall Reformatory from its foundation until his retirement in 1903. The school was renamed Bradwall Training School in 1908, and closed in 1920. The buildings are now Grade II listed, converted into cottages.
caption: Former Bradwall Reformatory School in 2012, see location on a 1910 Ordnance Survey map
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