Daresbury Hall was built in 1759 for George Heron. He was married to Felicia Brooke, a descendent of the family from Norton Priory. They had two children, George, who became Rector of Lymm and Peter Kyffin, who married Rebecca Rutter of Moore Hall. Thus the Heron family owned the manors of both Moore and Daresbury.
In 1850, the Hall was sold to Samuel Beckett Chadwick and in 1892, it was bought by Sir Gilbert Greenall, 1st Baron Daresbury, after he retired from parliament, where he had served as MP for Warrington. Sometime later, it was sold to Mr Cyril Hill, a director of lead producing companies. In 1939, he was living there with his wife, 5 servants and 2 nursing sisters. The picture shows his dog, Buster, at the rear of the hall.
During World War 2, the Hall was used as an auxiliary hospital. In 1952 it was listed as Grade 11*, which means that it is considered ‘a particularly important building of more than special interest’. SCOPE purchased the building in 1955 and used it as a residential home and school, adding a swimming pool and staff houses.
After Scope closed its facility, the Hall passed into private ownership, but was allowed to become semi derelict and stood empty for some years. In 2015, police were called to the site and discovered a cannabis farm with over 600 plants and a street value of £750,000.
Twelve months ago, there was a significant fire at the Hall. The structure has been made safe, but we have no knowledge of future plans for this fine building.