Beaumanor Hall is a stately home with a park in the small village of Woodhouse on the edge of the Charnwood Forest, near the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England. The present hall was built in 1842–8 by architect William Railton and builder George Bridgart of Derby, for the Herrick family, with previous halls dating back to the 14th century, and is a Grade II* listed building It was used during the Second World War for military intelligence. It is now owned by Leicestershire County Council as a training centre, conference centre and residential facility for young people. Beaumanor Park history Following the Norman Conquest, the land in the area was owned by Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester. In the 13th century ownership passed to the Despenser family, who created a deer park and hunting lodge at what is now Beaumanor. In 1327 the land passed to Henry de Beaumont, for whom a new house, Beau Manor was built in 1330, Beaumont also having the nearby church built in 1338. The house was replaced by a new construction in 1595 for Sir William Herrick, a government official under Elizabeth I and later a member of parliament for Leicester. The house was extensively altered around 1610, and stood until 1725, when it was replaced by a smaller house, completed in 1726. The third hall was demolished in 1842, and the present hall built for William Herrick over a seven-year period between 1842 and 1848 by William Railton in the Jacobean style. The hall was constructed using stone from Derbyshire quarries, primarily Duffield and Ashover, with floors of marble from Ashford. When completed, the building had cost £37,000. The Herrick family William Perry Herrick (1794 – 1876) who built the present house in about 1850 was born in Wolverhampton in 1794. His father was Thomas Bainbrigge Herrick who was a barrister and his mother was Mary Perry daughter of James Perry of Eardisley Park. William spent his childhood in his family home Merridale House (now called Bantock House) in Wolverhampton. He went to Oxford and became a barrister. In 1832 his uncle who owned Beaumanor died and as he had no male heirs the property was inherited by William. He also inherited Earlisley Park in 1852 when his maternal uncle James Perry died. These properties and their associated landholdings made him a very wealthy man. He lived with his younger sister