Beechwood

Beechwood had been built by tea merchant  Thomas Ridgway around 1850.  He sold it to cotton magnate, George Charnley Dewhurst in 1853.

The census of 1861 shows him residing there with his second wife, twenty years his junior, and seven children.  It also shows sixteen staff and servants, living either in the house itself or the adjacent lodge and cottages.

The house was acquired by Lord Leverhulme in 1911 as part of his purchase of the entire Dewhurst estate.

During the First World War, it was home to 90 Belgian refugees. 

Having failed to sell at auction in 1919 it was finally sold to J & A Jackson, Builders in the early 20s. They reportedly bought it with the intention of demolition and reuse of the stone on other projects. Beechwood was gradually torn down, stone by stone from 1925.