Pull Woods House

Pull Wood House was designed by the architect George Faulkner Armitage of Altrincham Cheshire and built for Sir William Crossley in 1891. Sir William and his brother Francis Crossley were the founders of Crossley Motors in Manchester. From 1911 to 1935 the house was owned by Sir Kenneth Irwin Crossley who used it as a summer residence for himself and his family until his wife died, and after World War I the house remained disused for over 20 years.

At the outbreak of WW II in 1939 Huyton Hill Preparatory School was evacuated from Huyton near Liverpool to the Lake District where it was temporarily located at Newby Bridge.
Pull Wood House at the North West end of Windermere was disused at the time and then was rented by Hubert Butler for the school, after the war he purchased the building and grounds with his brother Gerald.

(Note: The history of Pull Wood House is being researched and it is hoped that much more information can be added to this page).

“Fatal Shooting at Pull Woods Boathouse” in 1937 – by Peter Royds

“This incident was first mentioned to me by Harvey Hill, groundsman at Huyton Hill and also the holiday flats after that. I then asked Joan Newby (Bill’s widow) about it. She remembered it well and gave me a rough idea of when it had been in the news. Janet (spouse) and I spent a couple of days in Kendal library in 2006, going through weekly issues of the Westmorland Gazette until we found the reports in the editions of 1st, 8th, and 15th January 1938. My synopsis is based on those much more detailed accounts.
Mrs. Newby told me that, although the story was well known locally, Hubert told the staff not to mention it to the boys . (Don’t mention the shooting!).”

Peter wrote the article below which you can download to read.