
While researching the History of Childwall, a favourite ‘local historian’ that I went back to time after time was Ronald Stewart-Brown M.A., F.S.A. I based much of my early findings from him as he gave the most precise history and information, backed up by sources and as much fact as possible, and it is therefore who I have turned my attention back to in the quest for the early years of Woolton Hall – and more importantly, pre Woolton Hall.
In studying modern maps of Liverpool, one will come across ‘Much Woolton’ and ‘Little Woolton’ and perhaps it is a good time to provide some explanation to this to set the scene for the layout of Woolton Hall as this is most important. Little Woolton appears to be much larger than its neighbour, over 1,388 acres compared to 795 acres of Much Woolton.
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Of course, the boundaries change over time and names change etc, but Little Woolton takes in far more than it did back then compared to now. It not only included the township itself, but two others ‘vills or homesteads, which once were both separate from it.
These names were Brettargh or Brettargh Holt and Wibald’s Lee. If you were to look on a modern map, then Wibald’s Lee is roughly now where Lee Park is. The name appears to point in the direction of ‘Wigbalds’s field’. (Before I attempt to confuse everyone with the location of ‘The Holt’, I have added a map of the past to show its location. This is listed on the OS map as Holt Hall Farm (I’ll come to more on this later) but for now, this was on what is now the corner of Caldway Drive in Netherley. It is now just a patch of grass and has absolutely no reference to its important history back in the day.)
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However, further research on the vill of Brettargh shows that this may have been spread across a much larger area which ran up west towards Childwall Brook. It is known that at one time, the owners of Brettargh also owned Wheat hill. Wheat hill was listed on (now) Naylor’s Road as two properties, plus also Wheat hill House which was demolished for the extension of the M62 Motorway. The earliest appearance of the name in known records appears from about 1180 onwards. John, constable of Chester and the lord of the barony of Widnes granted the ‘vill’ of Brettargh to William De Suonis.
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This gift was coupled with the right to pannage and to enjoy all easements belonging to the Vill of Little Woolton, and with an obligation to pay the annual rent of 18d to the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, to whom the constable had given Much Woolton, probably only a few years before.
Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Brettargh loses its identity as a separate Vill and becomes merged with ‘little Woolton.’ In the fourteenth century, Brettargh passed into the hands of the most influential family in Lancashire, the Earls of Derby. From a second wife of Robert of Lathom, there came a family ‘de Knowsley’ and from then again, a branch ‘de Huyton’.
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HOLT HALL FARM
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When my mum was born at the end of WW2 in Childwall, she would join her sisters and two brothers and meet up with other children area to go and explore. Just after the war, the land beyond the former railway bridge on Childwall Valley Road ‘was all fields’, and if you were anyone, the meeting point in Childwall was Jackson’s Pond. This pond is no longer there but would have been situated on the field which is now bordered from Gateacre Park Drive and Escor Road.
To gain access to this pond, one had to go through the boundary gate of Jackson’s Farm. Now, Jackson’s Farm to this day was something that ‘started on Childwall Valley Road’ and depending on who you spoke to, ran all the way up Gateacre Park Drive to Woolton. In reality, I believe it ran up to the next field which was Gorsey Cop Farm. Jackson’s Farm operated out of Childwall House Farm and there were children including Harrison and Thomas. They also ran other farms in the area including New Hall Farm in West Derby. The family went out to Ontario in Canada in 1921 for 4 months and when they returned they lived at Childwall Farm. Harrison’s brother, Thomas, later moved to Halt Hall Farm when he got married. Thomas’ son, William spent some time at Holt Hall Farm and a good friend of mine, Debbie Jackson (whose father-in-law was William Jackson) allowed me permission to use the following items:




On the left hand images, we see a very rare image of Holt Hall Farm. It is sad to see that nothing is left on this patch of ground and that all the buildings have been demolished.
For such an important building from the past with its rich history, it is frustrating that nothing more was done to save this building from the wreckers ball given the history and the owners that provided Woolton with its early history.
When Holt Hall Farm was demolished, laying in the field for some unknown reason were a few stones from the original building. They show a coat of arms and what looks like to be a date stone. A local must have known about them and ‘saved them’ for a future use. It was therefore incredible to track these stones down and realize that they still survive. During the building of a new garage in the south of Liverpool, these stones were added in to the front gable end!
It is not clear who were the owners in medieval times of what is now the Woolton Hall estate, but in Tudor times it was held by the Brettarghs of Brettargh Holt in Little Woolton (Holt Hall Farm), who were reputed to have acquired it from an ancient family named De Woolton. From the Brettarghs it descended to the Broughtons and then in 1704 it became the property of the Honourable Richard Molyneux, son and heir of William 4th Viscount Molyneux. This is why the Brettarghs of Brettargh Holt is so important in playing a part in the back story to the Woolton Hall estate. With the land being owned by William Brettargh that Woolton Hall was constructed on, it’s important to have included this back story to gain the full history of the parcel of land that the building now sits on. It is very odd to see ‘The Holt’ just a patch of empty land with no historical signage to the past of this incredible history.
