Built on the site of a previous mansion of the same name the Gothic Revival building was the seat of parliamentarian Bamber Gascoyne (the younger), a noted opponent of the abolition of slavery.

The estate continued to pass between noblemen: from Robert de Lanthom to John Stanley (KG) before being obtained by the Le Grey family who sold it to lawyer Isaac Greene of Liverpool.

By 1780 their son Bamber Gascoyne (the younger) was elected MP for Liverpool and eventually inherited the family estate, which he decided to have rebuilt.

On the death of Bamber the younger in 1824, the hall and surrounding estate passed to his only child Francis Mary Gascoyne, who a few years previously had married James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and moved away from the area.

Liverpool Corporation had initially intended to convert the hall into a further education college; however, the remaining structure proved unsuitable, and after the discovery of dry rot a decision was made to demolish it.