Daresbury Hall Estate

A forgotten and somewhat lost place, Daresbury Hall is a 35 acre site that stands merely 10 minutes away from where I live in the area of South Warrington yet it is a place that barely anyone talks about let alone visits. Daresbury village itself is known as being the birthplace of Lewis Carroll, and has always been the residency of many well-kept modern heritage mansions. It remains a proud part of the town of Warrington, Daresbury Hall estate once being the very centre of that pride. It was built back in 1759 where for most of its life it stood as a Georgian stately home. For a time it was home to Lord Daresbury and his family as part of the original Greenhall’s brewery family estate in it's prime, now known as The De Vere Group. Thereafter, during World War 2 the estate was converted to be used as a military hospital, and the Lewis Carroll unit once represented the areas local history through medical service. After the war the undoubted utility of the site meant that it was then sold to the national spastic’s society now known as 'scope' and used as both a care home and school. Many years after the spastic society had vacated the premises, it was sold to a millionaire bachelor for a sizeable fee and the manor returned to its former use as a stately home. But sadly, due to poor maintenance following his death the buildings have fallen into a state of disrepair and stands uninhabitable. Word has it that the manor stood exactly as the owner had left it for some time, and no possessions were handed forward until the building was emptied following years of vandalism. To the present date Daresbury Hall has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building and seeks planning permission to be restored. The Estate has been subject to a series of 'ghost hunter' operations, with teams of enthusiasts and TV crews visiting the site to explore its apparent supernatural potential given its history and undeniably eerie presence. This had lead to it’s most recent use as the grounds for a seasonal zombie-hunt paintballing exercise. Many of the outbuildings are littered with replica guns and leftover items from the games, along with decorated walls following the theme of an apocalypse. Making some of the rooms even more creepy than they would have been already. Even so there were certain parts that we were just not willing to explore, if only because due to recent safety measures many of the windows have been boarded up making it near impossible to navigate and therefore photograph. I will be revisiting this site very soon, as I feel I have only just scratched the surface.

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