Historic Liverpool Dwellings - Thingwall Hall

 

The township of Thingwall, with an area of only 175 acres, appears originally to have formed part of the manor of West Derby but has, since 1877, been attached to Huyton-with-Roby as there was no separate return of the population in 1901. It consisted of the estate known as Thingwall Hall, standing on a hill, rising to an elevation of 166 ft. above mean sea-level, in the centre of the township, with the old manor house, now a farm house, and a few other dwellings. According to Stephen Harding's 'Viking Mersey' Thingwall Hall was on the site of a 'Thing', one of the local Scandinavian parliaments in the Norse-occupied areas of the British Isles. It first appears upon record in 1177, when King John gave it to Richard, son of Thurstan, in exchange for his estate of Smithdown. Later Hugh de Thingwall and his descendants became the chief personages in the manor. In 1725 there was a suit between John Tutt and John Mercer as to the latter's lands in Thingwall and West Derby. The now Grade II listed building was  originally set in 60 acres (240,000 m²) of grounds and was built and owned by an individual called Hugh Pringle who took part in 50 slave expeditions in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

From the Liverpool General Advertiser 1778

 

Ancient Chapel of Toxteth Memorial

Thomas Crowther, a Liverpool merchant, was living at the hall, then called Summerhill, in 1824 whilst Thomas Case of the prominent Case family and Mayor of Liverpool in 1817 also lived there for a time. Twenty-one years later Thingwall was purchased from the executors of Thomas Case by Samuel Thompson, descending to his son and grandson, Samuel Henry Thompson and Henry Yates Thompson. The house was re-modelled by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, the designer of St George's Hall, circa 1846–7. At the beginning of 1899 Miss Annie Thompson sold it to Sir David Radcliffe, who in 1903 sold it to a land company.

The mansion house with ten acres of land of the surrounding estate became the property of a Belgian religious order, the Brothers of Charity, and was used as a poor-law school, known as St. Edward's Home and was able to accomodate up to 300 Roman Catholic boys. It had its own chapel, dining room and concert hall, as from 1914 the boys had their own wind band, being able to develop their musical skills they played at local events such as fetes. The boys were also taught various manual skills such as carpentry and shoe making. The orphanage closed in 1956 and afterwards became a residential care home and sheltered accomodation for vulnerable adults. Beyond the hall there was a small 'village' of housing for the residents, along with a garden centre which provided some employment and activity for many of them. In most recent years the building was a Nursing Home with the land to the rear being purchased by a housing developer Redrow Homes who have built Summerhill Park, a development of over 500 homes off Thomas Lane, with the first phase launched in 2012.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/09/historic-liverpool-dwellings-walton-hall.html?q=Thingwall+Hall