The apartment we surveyed in this Warrington manor house might be brand new, but the building it was in has an exceptional and lengthy history….and a moat!
The Bewsey Old Hall estate was first established in the mid-13th century by knight of the realm, William Boteler, Lord of Warrington. His medieval wooden hall was home to many generations of the Boteler family, but life for the family was far from peaceful. Rumour has it that in 1521 one of the Lords of Warrington was murdered in his bed by Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby, following several quarrels. Stanley murdered several of the servants for good measure, even dispatching the porter who had helped him find Lord Boteler’s bedchamber. Lord Boteler’s son survived, and the family’s tenure continued at Bewsey Hall for a couple more generations. It finally ended when Edward Boteler gambled away the family fortune, resulting in the estate being passed to the Earl of Leicester in 1586 to settle Boteler’s debts.
The estate was then sold to Thomas Ireland, a lawyer. Thomas was knighted in 1617, and later King James came to stay as a guest of Sir Thomas at Bewsey, giving it its Royal connection. Thomas extended the house and some of the Jacobean architecture still survives today, although a fire during the 1740s meant one wing of the house had to be rebuilt.
Another devastating fire in the 1830s destroyed much of the north side of the structure. The remaining property is substantial, but it’s clear that before the fire, the estate would have been vast.
Modern times have been no less eventful, with the estate used as part of the Burtonwood American Airbase in World War II. On top of this, an arson attack in 2011 lead to damage to the roof, but happily the property has since been reinstated and has now been converted into seven flats.
Our Warrington building surveyor was really impressed with the standard of refurbishment workmanship and detailing, all sympathetic to the age and original character. Good thing too, seeing as the property is Grade II* Listed!