Speke Hall

This is Speke Hall in Liverpool. Construction of the current building began in 1530 with the last range, which you can see here, completed in 1598. Going through the porch leads into a courtyard where there are two ancient yew trees, Adam and Eve. After years of neglect, at times tenant farmers used it as a barn, the house was bought by the Watt family.

The last surviving heir of the Watt family, Miss Adelaide Watt, inherited the house and estate when she came of age in 1878. Both her parents had died by the time she was 8 years old and she lived with her aunt and uncle on their estate in Scotland. There she became well versed in running an estate and went on to manage the Speke estate very well. She designed and introduced many modern techniques in estate management including the building of Home Farm which was a model that was emulated by others.

Miss Watt never married and was concerned that on her death the house and estate would be swallowed up by ever expanding city of Liverpool. She died in 1921 and left the estate in trust for members of the family after which it was to pass into the ownership of the National Trust.

However the Trustees sold off most of the 2400 acres for the development of Liverpool airport, housing and industrial developments. By 1942, when the National Trust took over the house, only 88 acres left.