Legend had it (my mum and dad always said) that Colonel (as he was to become) Brassey's money, used to buy the Copse Hill estate and build the huge house had been made 'on the railways'. Setting out to prove or disprove this theory has unearthed some very interesting facts. True, the original money was made 'on the railways', but by Colonel Brassey's grandfather, not he himself. The grandfather was called Thomas Brassey who was born near Chester and apprentised at an early age to a firm of surveyors. To cut a long story short - and you must read the link to his life story, Thomas Brassy as in all good stories, managed to be in the right place at the right time. He was friends with George Stephenson and competed with him on several occasions to build bridges and railway. During his lifetime he laid 8500 miles of track (including famous bridges and viaducts) in England, France and Canada. He even survived the collapse of the bank that had most of his money. It's just unbelievable that he isn't as well known as his contemporaries Stephenson, Brunel and Telford.