AN ENORMOUS fire has ripped through a historic Grade I-listed manor house.
Woolton Hall in Liverpool was engulfed in flames yesterday evening, with fire crews battling through the night to extinguish the blaze.
The site, built in 1704, had previously served as a hotel, an army hospital, a convent and a school but had fallen into risrepair in recent years.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) rushed to the scene at around 8.15pm yesterday, finding the three-storey stone-built building “fully involved in [a] fire around 40 by 30 metres in size”.
By 9.30pm, MFRS had eight fire engines at the scene, as well as an aerial appliance in attendance.
The building had become “well alight” and the roof had “collapsed”, MFRS said.
Late last night, the fire service said nine engines were on the scene, with a multi-agency meeting determining it would be “unsafe” to send firefighters into the building.
People have been warned to avoid the area, and local residents have been advised to keep their doors as windows closed, as smoke continues to billow from the historic site.
In its most recent update at 11.30pm last night, MFRS said: “The incident is ongoing and there will be firefighters and fire engines at the scene for some time.
“However, firefighters have made good progress and this means that the incident can begin to be scaled down shortly.
“Please continue to avoid the area – residents should continue to keep doors and windows closed.”
The site had previously been hit by another devastating fire in 2019 – which was treated as an arson attack by police.
It was then added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register as a Category A site two years later.
This category defines a structure as being at an “immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric”.
