How a battle to save a piece of history was lost

Grade I-listed Woolton Hall was burned down on 19 August

When Jonathon Wild first saw footage of a fire raging at Woolton Hall in Liverpool circulating online, he assumed it was some sort of AI fake.

But as he watched the news reports of the ferocious blaze tearing through the building earlier this month, he knew that his long-running campaign to save one of the jewels in the city's heritage crown was being reduced to ashes along with the Grade I-listed mansion.

The 1704-built hall, which had been out of use for up to 30 years, was considered as important as the city's Royal Albert Dock and Anglican and Metropolitan cathedrals.

But for Save Woolton Hall campaign founder Mr Wild, 48, its story was not one of regeneration or preservation, but one of decline and eventual destruction.

"If we can't protect such an important historic building as this, then we are essentially saying no historic building in this city is safe and they're all fair game," he said.

Woolton Hall was saved from demolition and used as a wedding and celebration venue in the 1980s

Set in its own grounds in the south of the city, Woolton Hall was renovated in 1772 by leading Georgian-era architect Robert Adam.

Over the years it was home to viscounts, shipping magnates, an Edwardian alternative medicine retreat and a World War One military hospital. Its walls were once hung with paintings by Dutch and Flemish masters.

After being Grade I-listed over 40 years ago, it spent a brief period as a wedding and celebration venue before being bought by its current owners in the early 2000s for about £390,000.

Plans to turn it into a care home never materialised.

The fire completely destroyed Woolton Hall, leaving only the outer walls standing

On 19 August, Merseyside Police received reports of youths gathering at the site.

It was upon reports of a fire at the building that officers attended, and the following day, while firefighters continued to damp down the burned-out shell, a 14-year-old girl was arrested on suspicion of arson and released on conditional bail.

While Mr Wild did not want to believe the building could be destroyed, he had long feared it was inevitable.

And years of pleading with Liverpool City Council to help protect the building had been unable to prevent its destruction.

Woolton Hall was originally built in 1704 and was Grade I-listed in the 1980s

After its time as part of Sisters of Notre Dame School came to an end about 50 years ago, Woolton Hall was earmarked for demolition.

In 1980, now-deceased local businessman John Hibbert bought it and invested about £100,000 in restoring it. Photographs from the time show the building and grounds kept in good condition, and Mr Hibbert would act as toastmaster at events and other weddings held there.

The business venture had limited success, and when Mr Hibbert sold the building, he was allowed by its new owner to stay on as caretaker, always happy to open it up for curious visitors.

One such visitor was Mike Rogers, from local heritage group The Friends of Williamson Tunnels.

Mike Rogers, from The Friends of Williamson Tunnels, was shown around Woolton Hall by former owner John Hibbert

"It was about seven years ago, and John the caretaker was still looking after it, making sure it was secure and people did not break in," 54-year-old Mr Rogers said.

"It had a real faded grandeur about it. It needed a little tender loving care and there was some weather damage, but the rooms were in pretty good condition, but you could see that with a little bit of money put in, it could be restored to its former glory."

Mike Rogers said Woolton Hall had a "faded grandeur" when he visited in about 2018

But Mr Wild said that since Mr Hibbert had handed back the keys he had found himself repeatedly having to contact Liverpool City Council to warn it that the building was not secure and was falling into serious disrepair.

At first the response from the council seemed positive. In an email from 2021, chief executive Tony Reeves said the condition of the building was "not acceptable", and that the council had "reminded the owners of their responsibilities… and the potential of the local authority taking legal action".

Historic England expressed its concern that a "recent break-in… shows unfortunately things [had not] improved as much as was hoped".

The building had become increasingly popular with so-called urban explorers, some of whom, Mr Wild said, would break in, making the building less secure.

"It was a free-for-all," he said. "You could have made money putting a turnstile at the front porch and charging £1 entrance… such was the number of urban explorers and people who constantly broke in."

Jonathon Wild said he believed Woolton Hall was now lost forever

Liverpool City Council's own officers were no strangers to visiting Woolton Hall. Responses under the Freedom of Information Act showed officers undertook 23 separate safety and security inspections between 2019 and 2024.

But it never once used its powers to issue an Urgent Works Notice that would have compelled the owners to make the building more secure or safe.

"I was staggered," said Mr Wild, who had successfully campaigned for Woolton Hall to be added to the Historic England at Risk register in 2021. "You could look at photographs taken years apart showing the progress of the decline. If that didn't merit an Urgent Works notice, what did?"

Jonathon Wild said he had begged the council to make sure the building was secure and safe from intruders

In February 2025 a letter from the office of Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport told Mr Wild that "positive dialogue between the council and the owner is why the council has not sought to serve an urgent works notice thus far".

Asked following the fire whether it had been satisfied the site was sufficiently protected prior to the blaze, Liverpool City Council said its officers last visited in May 2025.

They found the building to be "relatively secure", a spokesman said.

Two days before the fire, urban explorers were filming themselves walking around the hall, seemingly having had no difficulty getting in.

Woolton Hall was completely gutted in the blaze

The owner of the building, Woolton Hall Ltd, bought it in 2001 for £392,500, according to Land Registry documents. While the value of the building and land is not known, the company's last filed accounts showed it held fixed assets valued at £2.079m.

In 2021, one of its directors, care home boss Abid Chudary, described Liverpool City Council planners as "lazy" and said the authority had been delaying the firm's plans for a care home at the site by demanding purpose-built accommodation for over-55s in the grounds as an "enabling development" for the wider scheme.

Mr Chudary, who had previously controlled firms operating two Merseyside care homes that were shut down by regulator the Care Quality Commission in 2017, was reported to have told the Liverpool Echo the plan was no longer viable due to the "crisis in health and social care".

"There is not a market for those properties and my financiers will not provide the money. If we make no money on the enabling development, we cannot restore the hall," Mr Chudary, now 66, was reported to have said.

The BBC has approached Woolton Hall Ltd but has received no response.

The roof of Woolton Hall was completely destroyed, and only the outer walls remain

Just under three weeks before the fire that gutted the building, Liverpool City Council contacted the owner's agent asking for an update on progress and "advising of the need for various reports to support applications previously discussed and to fully understand the extent of the works required to the listed building".

"In June, the agent had said that the owner was looking into funding for planning and listed building consent applications," a council spokesman said, adding "we will be liaising with the owners as structural surveys will need to be carried out to ascertain what can be salvaged / saved of the Grade I-listed hall".

For Mr Wild, it should never have got to the point of being a "salvage" job.

"I wasn't asking the council to compulsory purchase the building or anything. I just wanted it to task the owner with making sure that it was safe and secure, so that there would at least be something to restore in the future," he said.

"But they couldn't even do that. And now it looks like such an important part of our city's heritage is gone forever."