Building the Mansion c1855-73

William LeighThe purchaser of the Woodchester Estate was William Leigh, a wealthy recent convert to Roman Catholicism. He paid £170,000 for the property in 1845. In 1815, at the age of 13, he had inherited £100,000 and the Roby Hall estate at Huyton, near Liverpool, from his father. Leigh senior was a successful merchant trading in salt, tobacco and foodstuffs in and out of the port of Liverpool. William Leigh was born in Liverpool in 1802 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He settled at Little Aston Hall in Staffordshire following his marriage to Caroline Cotterell in 1828. After his reception into the Roman Church at Leamington in 1844 he moved to Gloucestershire with the aim of creating a Catholic community in the area. A zealous convert, his first action was to start building a Catholic church and monastery at South Woodchester, adjacent to the eastern end of his estate.

In January 1846 Leigh asked the pre-eminent Victorian architect A.W.N. Pugin to survey the existing Spring Park Mansion, presumably with a view to Pugin improving the house for William and his wife, son and two daughters. Pugin visited Woodchester and condemned the existing building, saying “... a more hopeless case of repairs I never saw.” He recommended starting anew, and sent Leigh an estimate of £7118 and a design for a new house. Later that year Pugin drew up plans for the church and monastery at Woodchester for Leigh, but resigned from the commission in August 1846. Leigh then turned to the Bristol based Catholic architect Charles Hansom to build the church and monastery. The former, the Church of the Annunciation, was completed in 1849 and the latter in 1853. Meanwhile, the Leighs lived in an extended gardener’s cottage on the south side of the valley towards Nympsfield, known as “The Cottage”, which remained the family home until the First World War. Leigh’s contribution to the growth of Catholicism in Victorian England was significant and Woodchester was central to this expansion.
www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/History.aspx

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Building the Mansion c1855-73

William LeighThe purchaser of the Woodchester Estate was William Leigh, a wealthy recent convert to Roman Catholicism. He paid £170,000 for the property in 1845. In 1815, at the age of 13, he had inherited £100,000 and the Roby Hall estate at Huyton, near Liverpool, from his father. Leigh senior was a successful merchant trading in salt, tobacco and foodstuffs in and out of the port of Liverpool. William Leigh was born in Liverpool in 1802 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He settled at Little Aston Hall in Staffordshire following his marriage to Caroline Cotterell in 1828. After his reception into the Roman Church at Leamington in 1844 he moved to Gloucestershire with the aim of creating a Catholic community in the area. A zealous convert, his first action was to start building a Catholic church and monastery at South Woodchester, adjacent to the eastern end of his estate.

In January 1846 Leigh asked the pre-eminent Victorian architect A.W.N. Pugin to survey the existing Spring Park Mansion, presumably with a view to Pugin improving the house for William and his wife, son and two daughters. Pugin visited Woodchester and condemned the existing building, saying “... a more hopeless case of repairs I never saw.” He recommended starting anew, and sent Leigh an estimate of £7118 and a design for a new house. Later that year Pugin drew up plans for the church and monastery at Woodchester for Leigh, but resigned from the commission in August 1846. Leigh then turned to the Bristol based Catholic architect Charles Hansom to build the church and monastery. The former, the Church of the Annunciation, was completed in 1849 and the latter in 1853. Meanwhile, the Leighs lived in an extended gardener’s cottage on the south side of the valley towards Nympsfield, known as “The Cottage”, which remained the family home until the First World War. Leigh’s contribution to the growth of Catholicism in Victorian England was significant and Woodchester was central to this expansion.
www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/History.aspx

© All Rights Reserved

Building the Mansion c1855-73

William LeighThe purchaser of the Woodchester Estate was William Leigh, a wealthy recent convert to Roman Catholicism. He paid £170,000 for the property in 1845. In 1815, at the age of 13, he had inherited £100,000 and the Roby Hall estate at Huyton, near Liverpool, from his father. Leigh senior was a successful merchant trading in salt, tobacco and foodstuffs in and out of the port of Liverpool. William Leigh was born in Liverpool in 1802 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He settled at Little Aston Hall in Staffordshire following his marriage to Caroline Cotterell in 1828. After his reception into the Roman Church at Leamington in 1844 he moved to Gloucestershire with the aim of creating a Catholic community in the area. A zealous convert, his first action was to start building a Catholic church and monastery at South Woodchester, adjacent to the eastern end of his estate.

In January 1846 Leigh asked the pre-eminent Victorian architect A.W.N. Pugin to survey the existing Spring Park Mansion, presumably with a view to Pugin improving the house for William and his wife, son and two daughters. Pugin visited Woodchester and condemned the existing building, saying “... a more hopeless case of repairs I never saw.” He recommended starting anew, and sent Leigh an estimate of £7118 and a design for a new house. Later that year Pugin drew up plans for the church and monastery at Woodchester for Leigh, but resigned from the commission in August 1846. Leigh then turned to the Bristol based Catholic architect Charles Hansom to build the church and monastery. The former, the Church of the Annunciation, was completed in 1849 and the latter in 1853. Meanwhile, the Leighs lived in an extended gardener’s cottage on the south side of the valley towards Nympsfield, known as “The Cottage”, which remained the family home until the First World War. Leigh’s contribution to the growth of Catholicism in Victorian England was significant and Woodchester was central to this expansion.
www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/History.aspx

© All Rights Reserved

Building the Mansion c1855-73

William Leigh
The purchaser of the Woodchester Estate was William Leigh, a wealthy recent convert to Roman Catholicism. He paid £170,000 for the property in 1845. In 1815, at the age of 13, he had inherited £100,000 and the Roby Hall estate at Huyton, near Liverpool, from his father. Leigh senior was a successful merchant trading in salt, tobacco and foodstuffs in and out of the port of Liverpool. William Leigh was born in Liverpool in 1802 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He settled at Little Aston Hall in Staffordshire following his marriage to Caroline Cotterell in 1828. After his reception into the Roman Church at Leamington in 1844 he moved to Gloucestershire with the aim of creating a Catholic community in the area. A zealous convert, his first action was to start building a Catholic church and monastery at South Woodchester, adjacent to the eastern end of his estate.

In January 1846 Leigh asked the pre-eminent Victorian architect A.W.N. Pugin to survey the existing Spring Park Mansion, presumably with a view to Pugin improving the house for William and his wife, son and two daughters. Pugin visited Woodchester and condemned the existing building, saying “... a more hopeless case of repairs I never saw.” He recommended starting anew, and sent Leigh an estimate of £7118 and a design for a new house. Later that year Pugin drew up plans for the church and monastery at Woodchester for Leigh, but resigned from the commission in August 1846. Leigh then turned to the Bristol based Catholic architect Charles Hansom to build the church and monastery. The former, the Church of the Annunciation, was completed in 1849 and the latter in 1853. Meanwhile, the Leighs lived in an extended gardener’s cottage on the south side of the valley towards Nympsfield, known as “The Cottage”, which remained the family home until the First World War. Leigh’s contribution to the growth of Catholicism in Victorian England was significant and Woodchester was central to this expansion.
www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/History.aspx

© All Rights Reserved

Building the Mansion c1855-73

William LeighThe purchaser of the Woodchester Estate was William Leigh, a wealthy recent convert to Roman Catholicism. He paid £170,000 for the property in 1845. In 1815, at the age of 13, he had inherited £100,000 and the Roby Hall estate at Huyton, near Liverpool, from his father. Leigh senior was a successful merchant trading in salt, tobacco and foodstuffs in and out of the port of Liverpool. William Leigh was born in Liverpool in 1802 and educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He settled at Little Aston Hall in Staffordshire following his marriage to Caroline Cotterell in 1828. After his reception into the Roman Church at Leamington in 1844 he moved to Gloucestershire with the aim of creating a Catholic community in the area. A zealous convert, his first action was to start building a Catholic church and monastery at South Woodchester, adjacent to the eastern end of his estate.

In January 1846 Leigh asked the pre-eminent Victorian architect A.W.N. Pugin to survey the existing Spring Park Mansion, presumably with a view to Pugin improving the house for William and his wife, son and two daughters. Pugin visited Woodchester and condemned the existing building, saying “... a more hopeless case of repairs I never saw.” He recommended starting anew, and sent Leigh an estimate of £7118 and a design for a new house. Later that year Pugin drew up plans for the church and monastery at Woodchester for Leigh, but resigned from the commission in August 1846. Leigh then turned to the Bristol based Catholic architect Charles Hansom to build the church and monastery. The former, the Church of the Annunciation, was completed in 1849 and the latter in 1853. Meanwhile, the Leighs lived in an extended gardener’s cottage on the south side of the valley towards Nympsfield, known as “The Cottage”, which remained the family home until the First World War. Leigh’s contribution to the growth of Catholicism in Victorian England was significant and Woodchester was central to this expansion.
www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/History.aspx

© All Rights Reserved