A Brief History of Lawton Hall Estate
Lawton Hall at the turn of the 19th century.
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Lawton Hall can be dated back to Adam de Lauton who lived during the reign of King John (1199-1216) and King Henry III (1216-72). Historical legend tells of a time in his life when he rescued the Earl of Chester from an attack by a wounded animal and in gratitude was granted "that amount of land around which he could walk in a day". His walk circumferenced a one thousand acre parcel of land that orginally stretched from Congleton to Sandbach and as far as Longport. It was this thousand acre estate that became the Parish of Lauton.
In the late twelth or early thirteenth century the Lawton family built a home on land that acquired from the Crown. It stood for some two hundred years until the beginning of the fifteenth century when this home burned to the ground.
After this another and more substantial home was built on the same spot by Hugh Lawton and his wife Isabella Madock. This second home had solid foundations and cellars. It is also known to have had a beautiful flagstone floor. This home was apparently removed by William Lawton and his wife Mary Maxfield very near the start of the seventeenth century to make way for yet another home on this spot. It is known that the second home did not fall down and neither was it burned.
This latest new home, was built about the year sixteen hundred and served the Lawton family through many generations.
By 1906 Lawton Hall was being used as a hotel and this continued until 1943 when it was requisitioned for use as a Civil Defense Reserve Camp. At some point during this time the Lawton family had vacated the home.
Shortly after World War II, in 1950, the Hall began use as a school and this period of usage lasted until 1986 at which point the school was closed. Since closure of the school the Hall remained unoccupied until the late 1990's.
In 1989 a company named Lawton Leisure Ltd. Applied for a plan to convert the Hall into a hotel with Leisure facilities. The plans were approved by the Congleton Borough Council in April 1990, but were never implemented as the Lawton family refused to sell the property, wanting only to lease it.
During July 1994 Robincorp Ltd. fell some one hundred trees on the property, until stopped by an order issued by the Congleton Borough Coucil. The Forestry Authority prepared a report for possible legal action against Robincorp, but no action was taken due to ownership questions.
RobinCorp sumbitted and withdrew various plans over the subsequent three to four years, however no renovation took place durng this time.
In 1999 Gleesons took over the development and plans were approved to renovate the Hall by converting it into 4 houses and 5 appartments. The stables were rebuilt into 5 homes, the coach houses were split into 8 properties with the remaining land being used to develop 12 detatched houses.