[3] In 1767, Berners, together with his brother Henry, inherited estates in Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex and Buckinghamshire from Charles Gostlin, his mother's cousin.
[4] The brothers erected a monument to Charles Gostlin at Morningthorpe Church in Norfolk, expressing gratitude for their inheritance.
William Berners wanted to demolish the barns and cottages in front of Hanwell Park that were blocking his view.
A meeting of the charity's trustees on 15 June 1771 recorded: “Mr Berners is very desirous to have the cottage and barns belonging to this Trust situated in front of his house moved to some other place, as being an obstruction to his view and an obstacle to his improvements.” [6] The land swap was secured by an Act of Parliament in 1775, sponsored by fellow slaveowner and Charity of William Hobbayne Trustee Nathaniel Bayly, MP for Westbury.
[7] Berners acquired extensive landholdings on the Shotley Peninsula south of Ipswich in Suffolk and commissioned Leicestershire architect John Johnson to design a fashionable gentleman's country residence, Woolverstone Hall, in 1776.