User:Unichive2/Unichive2/sandbook44

= Spital Old Hall =

Location and Early History
Spital Old Hall was located in Spital, on the Wirral. The Old Hall first served as a hospital specifically for lepers in the Middle Ages, said to be associated with one of Spital's traditional foundations, St Thomas the Martyr's chapel. Spital then was home to the Evans family, with Sir Edward Evans depicted in one of the rare photos of the Hall, alongside alongside William Gladstone and his wife.

Unilever Purchase
Arrangements were made by the Lever Brothers Limited between 1918 to1924 to purchase Spital Old Hall. A biological laboratory was then later established in 1926 in the outbuildings of the Old Hall.

The Biological Laboratory and the War
The grounds were later used by what was then Unilever Research for a nutrition laboratory in 1936. The laboratory was used to carry out tests on the vitamin content of margarine during World War Two. The site was expanded in 1942, but the Unilever Research Laboratory was moved out in the early 1950s. Spital Old Hall itself sold off to Cayzer Irvine & Co in the early 1950s.

Transition to the Golf Club
The nutrition laboratory was converted into new club premises for the Port Sunlight in 1953. The laboratory was handed over by the Lever brothers as a gift on the 11 September 1953. By the 1950s there were 40 sports and leisure clubs supported by the Levers in Port Sunlight, including an annual golf tournaments between teams of factory and office workers from the Lever company.

The new club house included lounges, a billiards room, and a cards and darts room, as well as a bar. The Golf Club moved from this accommodation to Eastham Lodge in 1976.

Parts of the site were later sold off for housing development, including the housing estate 'Blair Park.'