Brampton Bryan, pronounced 'Bron' by many of the locals was strategic as it kept watch over the river Teme. The castle was granted by William the Norman to his retainer Mortimer, who subsequently disposed of it to Bryan de Brampton. Eventually the fortress passed by marriage to the Harleys, a family of very ancient lineage, which can boast very eminent members, and which held the now extinct title of Earl of Oxford.

In an old record of the eleventh century, preserved at Pershore Abbey, we read that a Harley defeated the Danes at a place appropriately named Goodluck Hill; another is found accompanying Godfrey de Bouillon to the Holy Wars; whilst a third was instrumental in helping Prince Edward in his flight from Hereford after the battle of Lewis.

Sir Bryan, son of Sir Robert and Margaret, was a companion of the Black Prince at the battle of Crécy; and was one of the first to whom the new Order of the Garter was granted.

Brilliana was born in 1600 and was so named because she was the daughter of the governor of Brill in the Netherlands.

When the English Civil War started in 1642 it divided many people and communities. Brilliana notes in her diary how relations changed with her neighbours because of their political and religious differences. One of them, Sir William Croft of Croft Castle set about recruiting for Charles I.

The following year she felt even more isolated and scared with her husband and son away meaning that the safety of her family and tenants rested on her shoulders. When her servants visited Hereford they were often scorned for being 'roundheads', and she lived in great apprehension of the Leintwardine fair where people were likely to get drunk and become violent.

Brilliana had to some extend been comforted with the tender words of the gentlemanly marquis of Hertford, who commanded Hereford for the king, but worried when he told her she must be wary of the man who was to succeed him, Lord Herbert.

In 1643, a royalist council of war convened and made up their minds to destroy Brampton Castle. The governor of Hereford, Sir William Vavasour wrote to Prince Rupert saying "I had been lost in the opinion of these counties, neither should I get half of the contributions promised me, unless I make an attempt on Sir Robert Harley's house". Vavasour before bringing his men into action, offered Brilliana the change to surrender and met her at Brampton to try and persuade her.

However, Brilliana refused to give in, and the cavaliers brought a detachment of 600 men to the scene. The garrison within the castle walls comprised a hundred men at arms, two wall-mounted cannons known as 'drakes' with enough powder to last them two months. The only reinforcements and supplies supplied were a musket, a couple of bandoloers, and the services of a veteran sergeant offering his experience and expertise.

On July 27th, Lord Molyneaux put into position several troops with horse and cannon, but still Brilliana's stood steadfast and determined. The murder of a blind man outside the castle gates only served to fuel her resolve.
Lord Lingen took command of the royalist forces during the seven-week siege. The Harley's cook was hit by a poison bullet which 'murdered him in great torment', the cavaliers also put poison in a spring that provided water for the village which was ruined, and Wigmore Castle was destroyed too.
For Brilliana, there was the added strain of worrying about her son, Edward, who became a colonel in the roundhead cavalry, especially when she heard that he had had a close shave when his horse was killed under him. She was in two minds as whether to stay in Brampton Bryan or try and move off elsewhere and wished that her husband had been there to advice her.
In the last of the many letters that she wrote during the seige, many of them on bits of cloth in elaborate code, on October 9th 1643 she wrote to her son " I am now threatened.....but I hope the Lord will deliver me. I have taken a very great cold, which has made me very ill these last two or three days, but I hope that the Lord will be merciful to me, in giving me my health, for it is an ill time to be sick in....". Although the seige was lifted when the cavaliers moved on, the strain had taken its toll on Brilliana and a few days later she died. She had left instructions that the castle should be kept by her faithful friend Dr Nathaniel Wright. The following year the castle capitulated to Sir Michael Woodhouse.

The fact that the castle held out for so long hence drawing men and material from the royalist ranks, was in its own small way part of the victory that was achieved a few years later for the forces of Cromwell.

As a result of these troublous times, a petition was presented to Parliament by the inhabitants of Brampton Bryan ,detailing their losses during the siege; in consequence of which a sequestation was laid upon the estates of Sir Henry Lingen. Upon the death of Sir Robert, his son waited upon Lady Lingen with an inventory of the property marked for sequestation; and , after merely ascertaining that it was correct and signed by her husband, made over to her , as a free gift, the whole of the property.

Brilliana's grandson was Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, who was Chief Secretary of State from 1704 to 1708. He gathered the eponymous Harleian Manuscripts, now in the British Museum. Oxford Street and Harley Street are named in honour of him.