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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: andyleics003 on Wednesday 22 September 21 12:11 BST (UK)
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Around 1915-1920 one of my ancestors was in service at Beechwood, a house in Woolton owned at that time by Alderman Stanley Mather (at one time Lord Mayor of Liverpool). Following Alderman Mather's death the house was purchased in 1929 for the Archbishop of Liverpool.
I have obtained a photograph of Beechwood and a press cutting regarding its sale in 1929 with the help of Liverpool Record Office, but I would be interested in any further photographs or information that might be available, particularly from around 1915-1920 when my ancestor resided there.
Thanks in advance
Andy
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Have you see the ad in the Liverpool Echo of 4 July 1917 where Mrs Mather is advertising for a parlourmaid, "Church of England, age about 25, 4 in family, 5 maids"?
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Shaun
Many thanks - I hadn't seen that, so will head off now to find it!
Andy
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1911 census, Beechwood, Church Road, Woolton (24 rooms):
Arthur Stanley Mather 68, Solicitor and Frances Mather 66, married 44 years. 10 children in total, 9 still alive. Children and grandchildren in residence, totalling 7 Mathers + seven staff, viz: Cook, Parlourmaid, Under Parlourmaid, 2 Housemaids, Kitchen Maid and Nurse.
Google street view:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01qy7/
Archbishop’s House
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1356326
The Merseyside Magazine:
http://www.merseysidermagazine.com/site/features/woolton-village/
“Several of the village’s finest houses are on Church Road. At the village end of the road are listed terrace houses, some with attractive latticed porches, while further up are grander early 19th century houses built by James Rose, who established Woolton Quarry and was known as ‘the King of Woolton’. These include his own house, Beechwood, and Rosemount, built for his mother.”
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Thanks Br1gau, I'd seen the census but not the other items. Much appreciated.
Andy
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Two articles in case you haven't seen them. Shame about the poor quality of the photo.
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Thanks again! Very helpful information.
Andy
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The Times, 26 Feb 1929, gives brief details of his will and mentions Kathleen Helen Lawrence, Robert Jones and Alfred Rhodes.
Any of these names ring a bell?
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I live 3 miles from Beechwood - it was built by James Rose for himself - and Rosemount for his mother....Rosemount recently sold for over a million pounds -
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=84007894&sale=11843572&country=england
quote
Several of the village’s finest houses are on Church Road. At the village end of the road are listed terrace houses, some with attractive latticed porches, while further up are grander early 19th century houses built by James Rose, who established Woolton Quarry and was known as ‘the King of Woolton’. These include his own house, Beechwood, and Rosemount, built for his mother.
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you might find this interesting
http://www.merseysidermagazine.com/site/features/woolton-village/
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of course I never knew any of this - we have Mather Avenue in Allerton which adjoins Woolton - and here in Garston there are plenty of Mather family
can I ask what your family that was in service - what was the surname - it is likely there may be some descendents here in Garston ???
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Thanks for the latest responses. I believe my great aunt was only with the Mathers for a few years - her family was from Burton upon Trent, and she returned there circa 1919. The names in Mr Mather's will aren't known to me I'm afraid.
The information everyone has provided is very much appreciated, I have learned quite a lot about Beechwood and maybe there is more yet to come!
Andy
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Have you seen any oldmaps showing the site and layout of the buildings?
https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/342277/387058/12/100674
The "teardrop"shape to the S of tthe building is obviously the main approach for visitors/guests
Gmaps shows that there is a building on the site, the plan view of which closely follows that oldmap.
https://goo.gl/maps/m9vsHrdkQe3LwMMe6
This is the Streetview of it from Acrefield Park. The main approach as noted above.
https://goo.gl/maps/RCX84c9EngfESrQ58
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Thanks for this. I don’t subscribe to old-maps so can’t access a magnified view but maps.nls.uk has some old 25 inch OS maps of Woolton which show what you describe.
I have a couple of old photos of Beechwood but they are both taken from the direction of what is now Acrefield Park. It would be interesting to see some views of the property from other directions, particularly any from circa 1920, as much of the land surrounding the house has now been developed.
Andy
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You don't need to subscribe, just use the zoom out on the top left of the map until it does show and click on the LH blue square top right to remove the blue cast.
That particular map is the 1907 1:2500
https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/342277/387058/12/101104
Is the 1927 1:2500
The 1936/37 oldmap calls it Archbishop's House, which it remians until the 1:2500 maps run ouit on the '65/'70 version.
I wonder which Archbishop lived there.
David Sheppard, the former cricketer, became the Anglian A/bishop in '75 and of course there was also an RC Archbishop Derek Worlock from '76.
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Hi
The archdiocese of Liverpool purchased the house in 1929 after Alderman Stanley Mather had died. The first Archbishop to live there was a Dr Downey. I don’t know how long the Roman Catholic Church kept the house but I think a number of successive archbishops live there.
Andy