Woodbury Hall

Woodbury Hall and Park lie to the north-east of the village of Everton.

The present building, built between 1803 and 1806, supersedes the original hall, a renovated medieval farmhouse on the ridge-top to the west, which had been built by Sir John Jacob of Bromley, Middlesex, around 1635. The old house, which became known as ‘Old Woodbury’, had grounds laid out by Nathaniel Richmond in the 1760s for the landowner, the Earl of Macclesfield who had married Woodbury heiress Mary Lane.

In 1838 the house and part of the estate was bought by Mr. (later Sir) William Booth, thought to be of the Booth’s Gin family. Booth then sold the house and estate by public auction in 1858. Four hundred acres were bought by John Foster of Sandy, and the remainder, with the mansion, was bought by the Astell family of Everton House.

In World War II the house was requisitioned for military use, occupied initially by evacuees from the bombing of the cities, then troops from Dunkirk and finally by various units of the RAF, Artillery and Engineers.

The GSRW runs through the otherwise private parkland, allowing a view of the Hall to the north-west of the route.

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