Woodchester Mansion

In 1844, Earl of Ducie put the castle up for sale and William Leigh bought it a year later. Work building the castle started in the 1850s by William Leigh. By 1858 , the clock tower had been finished and the main part of the castle was completely roofed by 1866.  When William Leigh died in 1873, the castle still had not finished and was owned by William's son William, whom was better known as Willie.  Unfortunately, Willie was an excessive money borrower, leaving the family in a financial crisis during the 1880s. In the early 1900s, Willie's health had declined so work resumed with William Leigh's oldest daughter Blanche, whom brought the family out of their financial crisis and managed to hire someone to help continue the work. The castle was sold in 1922 once its price went up but the family gained the castle back in 1935 but Blanche was in her seventies by this time. By the 1950s, the castle had become a field study centre, yet no changes were made on the castle itself. A group called The Trust has been working on the castle since 2003 and has completed three parts of the restoration.

Sources:

1. A segemt of Fox Family/ABC Family's Scariest Places on Earth. 2. http://www.woodchestermansion.org.uk/HomePage.aspx