Formby Hall

For example, the battlements were added in the 18th century by John Formby who took inspiration from the Gothic-style architecture of Horace Walpole's home at Twickenham.

During World War II, the hall was continuously occupied by army personnel, with up to 150 soldiers accommodated in the spacious rooms.

In the summer of 1949, the hall was broken into in the early hours through a ground floor window, with thieves taking keys from a bedroom and ransacking drawers in an office.

The owner, John Frederic Lonsdale, quoted that "I wish I weren't such a sound sleeper", believing that the burglar must have been someone very familiar with the house and its layout.

In the 1970s, John Moores Junior leased the hall and the lands and used it as a home to house children from the crowded areas of inner city Liverpool.