Description:The original Westwood Hall building dates from the 1600s. Originally it was a fairly simple farm-house, but when John Davenport, a potter and glassmaker bought the property in 1813 he began a series of major improvements which extended the house and transformed it into a mock Elizabethan manor. His son, John Davenport the younger carried on his father's work, enlarging his home with a great hall, tower and suite of buildings around a newly built courtyard. He also carried out major work on the estate grounds, introducing landscaped gardens, a Gothic style outbuilding with tower and spire, a coach-house and stables and two lodges which today remain as houses.After John died in 1868 his son George sold most of the estate to John Robinson. Following the death of Mr Robinson's widow in 1908 the Hall was bought by Mr H. J. Johnson, who lived there until 1920 when he sold the building and grounds to Staffordshire County Council. The Hall was opened as Westwood Hall County High School for Girls in 1921. In 1965 the school was merged with St Edward's Secondary School in Westwood Park Avenue, Leek to form Westwood County High School, a mixed comprehensive on shared sites. In 1981, Westwood Hall became the school's Old Hall and the St. Edward Street Building, New Hall. A performing arts studio was opened in 1984 in what had been Westwood Hall's banqueting room.