The History and Development of Liverpool's Early Public Parks By

Home , History of Liverpool, Newsham Park, Salisbury Dock, Salthouse Dock, Sefton Park, Sefton Park (district)

The History and Development of Liverpool's Early Public Parks

carol e Barnes

A Master's Dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Arts degree of the Loughborough Universi ty of Technology

September, 1988

Supervisor: Dr Michael Reed, M.A., L.L.B., P.H.D, F.R.HIST.S. Department of Library and Information Studies

@ C. Barnes, 1988 LIS! OF PLANS III . LIS! OF ABBREVIATIONS IV

INI'RODUCTION 1

CHAPTER ONE. The development of the town of 6 Liverpool up to the year 1860

CHAPTER ~. The call for 'People's Parks' 26

CHAPTER THREE. The planning of the parks 45

CHAPTER FCXJR. The creation of the parks 64

CHAPTER FIVE. The development of the publ le parks 78

NCLUSION 95

BIBLIOORAPHY 103 Page

Plan of Liverpool and the Pool, 1650. 10 Chadwick's Plan of Liverpool, 1725. 13 Benson's Plan of Liverpool, c1860. 21 Plan of Liverpool, 1807 (Roper and COle). 37 Plan of the Prince's Park now in progress near Liverpool. 50 Messrs. Hornblower and Andre's Prize Plan for the Sefton Park. 58 Prince's Park, 1988. 89 Newsharn Park, 1988. 90 Stanley Park, 1988. 91 Sefton Park, 1988. 92

11, A.A.S. Archi tectural and Archaeological Society B.P.P. British Parliamentary Papers H.S.L.C. Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire L.C.P. Liverpool Council Proceedings L.R.O. Liverpool Record Office

iv I would like to thank my supervisor, or M. Reed, for his help and guidance while writing this dissertation. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my typist, Mrs. Helen Sprawson, and Hr F. Spiegl and Ingrid Ramnes of Scouse Press for permission to reproduce the plans of Liverpool.

v In this rocx:lern era, when new towns are carefully pre-planned on paper, attempting to take all sociological requirements into consideration, and older established towns and cities are re-built to meet present needs, it is easy to take the provision of parks and open spaces for granted. Parks and playgrounds perfor.m a valuable role in our cities, providing the residents with fresh air and space in which to relax, walk, admire the scenery and floral displays, indulge in a favourite sport, play games or just to sit and watch the world go by. Yet only 150 years ago, such facilities were not widely available to the general public.

Using the city of Liverpool as an example, this study examines the development of the first public parks, the reasons for their emergence, the way in which they were planned and created, and whether or not they fulfilled the needs that they were designed to meet. It also considers the present state of those parks and assesses the role they play for today's urban dwellers.

SUch an investigation into the history of Liverpool and its public parks draws on a variety of different sources. In order to realise the urgent requirement for public parks, one must be aware of the sudden speed wi th which the town of Liverpool expanded, and the problems this rapid increase in size precipi tated. There have been many general histories written about Liverpool which give a good outline to the town's growth, but extra depth and dimension can be added by consulting a detailed history of the town such as that produced by J.A. Picton,l as well as examining successive town plans, summaries of census statistics, conterrporary newspaper articles and directories, reports on the town's

1 public health and housing conditions by both the Town Council and Parliament, as well as articles by members of local historical societies and students' theses.

The local Record Office at Liverpool Central Library has a wide range of material concerning the town's history and, more specifically, on the public parks - guide books, maps and plans, detailed estimates for the park designs, council records for the acceptance of tenders for individual contracts, local newspaper articles wi th a call1.JCligning tone claiming to represent the opinions of 'the people', accounts of council expenditure, letters concerning the administration and governing of one of the parks, as well as more general comnentaries on the ci ty containing references to the parks. The local historian using Liverpool's Record Office will find a comprehensive sheaf catalogue with entrIes listed under author, title and subject for his convenience.

The individual Branch Libraries also maintain local history collections which cover a surprisingly wide range of topics, and provide valuable background information on nineteenth century Liverpool and its population. In addition, the microfilm unit at Liverpool's Central

Library has a good selection of eighteenth and nineteenth century newspapers as well as Gore's Liverpool DirectorY,2 and both this unit and the Pi lkington Library at Loughborough Universi ty of Technology hold a collection of Bri tish ParI iamentary Papers on microcard, which contain details of the various reports made concerning the public health and the need for parks. The Acts of ParI iament used in this study were found at the Comnercial Library at Liverpool's Central Library. Perhaps one of the most vital sources for this study were the parks themselves. A walk around each park reveals nruch about Victor.ian aesthetics, their theories

2 on the composition of a beautiful landscape, as well as their ideas on leisure and recreation.

By using this wide range of source materials, individual fragments of information can be pieced together to fonn the whole picture. Thus the history of the publ ic parks in Liverpool can be traced fran the earl iest national call for 'Public Walks' in the report of a Parliamentary Select Conmittee,3 the call carried on by a local canpaign for 'Peoples' Parks', through to the purchasing of land for the purpose, the arranging of contracts for the design and building of the parks, and on to their completion and ultimate use and popularity. To gain a cooplete picture, this study includes a whole chapter on the parks in the twentieth century. It reveals how the parks in Liverpool continued to develop in the first half of this century, but how, at present, they seem to be in the doldrums. This chapter has been included in the view that the present situation and condition of the parks may be 'food' for the local historian of the future.

In making this study, the amount of information available on all of Liverpool's public parks - the city now has ninety-six parks and playgrounds 4 - proved to be so great that the area of study had to be confined to the five original parks. These include Sefton Park, Stanley Park, Newsham and Shiel Parks, and Prince's Park. This latter was not originally a public park in the strict sense, as it was owned privately rather than by the COrporation prior to 1918. However, its creator and

O\o.Iller, Ri chard Vaughan Ya tes , recogn i zed the need for such a fac 11 i ty and allowed access to a section of the park by the public. The inclusion of Prince's Park in this study is due to its importance as the first planned park in Liverpool to allow the public access, and also as

3 its layout set a trend and pattern which was to be iml tated by the municipal parks twenty years later.

4 1. Picton, J.A. Memorials of Liverpool, 2 vols, 1903. 2. Gore's Liverpool Directory was one of the first annual directories in the world, being published in 1766. Initially a street directory, it gradually expanded to include local statistical data, e.g., census summaries, and shipping information. In 1813, cummulative annals were published, which continued until 1940. Towards the end of its life, the directory was published as Kelly's Directory. 3. Report of the Select Committee on Public Walks, B.P.P., 1833, vo1.XV, p.337.

4. AIros, F.J.C. Use of ~ Space in Liverpool, 1970, p.S.

S The fortunes of Liverpool seem to have declined during the last few years, yet until this present depression, the city had a history of continuous growth stretching back to its medieval origins. The visitor to m:xlern Liverpool will see a sprawling urban mass much like any other city, but with a long line of docks running along the northern bank of the River Mersey revealing the days of former glory. The buildings near the waterfront tell of the city's Victorian prosperity - the India Buildings, the CUnard Buildings - both names recording the city's links with the shipping trade. But the visitor to this area over a thousand

years ago ~uld have seen a very different environment. J.A.P. MacBride in his paper Toxteth Park. site of the Sefton Park and Surrounding District believed the whole of the area around the Mersey and the North west to be one large forest at the time of the Roman invasion and for

centuries afterwards. He quotes Mr. Herdman who wrote a history of Liverpool - The first objects that present themselves in evidence are that sttmps or roots of the trees of this extensive forest have been found at the present lOOuth of the Mersey, at low water on each side of the river. 1

It is not known exactly when the area first began to be cleared, but prior to the Norman Conquest, land including the site of the present ci ty formed part of the Royal Demesne. Following the Conquest, Liverpool as part of the' land between the Ribble and the Mersey' was

granted to a succession of Norman noblemen. 2

Liverpool's history frequently seems to have been bound up with that of Ireland and it was the Plantagenet kings' desire to subjugate the Irish

6 that ini tially led to the develoIJ1l9nt of the town as a port. On August

28th 1207, King John created Liverpool a Borough and sea port. 3 Hi s charter granted 'all the liberties and free customs in the town of

Lyrpol which any free borough upon the sea hath in our territories'.4 When the King finally began his canpaign to conquer Ireland in 1210,

Liverpool became one of the ports used for transporting the suppl ies needed by the invading aI111Y, including wheat, fodder, pigs, cheese, wine, herrings and horse shoes. 5 This gave the townsmen of the port valuable experience in bulk-buying and in trading with Ireland. The town was used again \tA1en the Irish rebelled during the reign of Edward Ill. Both Liverpool and Chester acted as embarkation points for troops and supplies. 6

The town gradually grew in stature and 1331 saw the earliest known appearance of 'LYrPQle' on any map. 7 Liverpool's trade expanded and its ships began to go further afield. C.N. Parkinson in Rise of the Port of

Liverpool refers to a wri t of 1364 which concerned the 'Peter' of Liverpool which had been detained at calais for 'lading \

The Liverpool of the middle ages was sited to the north of a 'pool'. This pool was actually a tidal creek branching off the Mersey and initially provided small ships with a haven from the rough conditions in the Mersey. The name Liverpool may have derived from the old Engl ish

'lifrig pol' meaning 'clotted pool' or muddy water. 9 To the south of this pool lay the royal hunting park known as Toxteth Park. Toxteth was mentioned in Domesday Book as stochstede and appears to have been held by two saxons - Bernulf and Stainulf. 10 When King John granted

7 Liverpool its charter, he acquired Toxteth as a royal park. It stretched for about three miles along the Mersey and for approximately two miles inland and the whole area was afforested. The site of this park in relation to the town can be seen on the 1598 map of Lerpoole Hauen. 11

Liverpool's rival in its early develoIXll9nt had been the port of Chester. Ships had tended to be lightweight with single, square sails and these

small vessels needed the she I tar of an inland harbour, such as Chester had provided, wi th the added advantage of being on a Ranan road to London (Watling Street).12 But by the mid-fifteenth century, the channels of the River Dee around Chester were beginning to silt up and

ships were having to unload cargo onto shallow bottomed craft to cope wi th the problem. 13 This inevitably increased the overheads for the users of the port. Liverpool, meanwhile, had made some improvements to

its harbour, deepening and straightening the entrance. 14 Yet expansion continued at a slow rate. In 1540, the town had twelve vessels with a tonnage of 177 tons. TWenty-five years later, it still only had fifteen vessels totalling 259 tons, 15 so the growth of the shipping trade in the

town was sti 11 very gradual at this stage.

By the mid-fifteenth century, Liverpool had established its basic shape. The roads stretched inland from the rivers' edge, fonninq an 'H'-plan along which lay the castle, a tower, customs house and St. Nicholas'

Chapel. Across the pool where it fonned the Sea Lake, there was a road to Toxteth Park. 16 In 1561, only seven streets in the town were inhabited, having approximately 690 people living in 138 cottages. 17 Liverpool's trade at this time still depended greatly on the Irish

market. Its ships sailed to Dublin, Dundalk, Droqheda, carlingford and

8 Waterford carrying textiles, cutlery, hardware, pewter, grain, malt, coal, salt and iron, returning with linen yarn, hides and skins.1s Such trade increased after peace was nade wi th Ireland and by 1618 the ntmtber of Liverpool vessels had increased to twenty-four. 19

The seventeenth century was a period of expanSion, with colonies being established in the New World. These colonies were to play a vi tal role in Liverpool's development. Trade with Ireland came to a standstill in mid-century following the subjugation of the Irish under crarwell, combined with the effects of plague, famine and emigration over there. 20

As a resul t, Liverpool's merchants and shipowners were forced to look elsewhere for business. They had to depend upon local products such as salt from the Cheshire salt pans. 21 However, it was around this time that Liverpool ships began to head towards the new colonies with their rich crops of tobacco. G. Chandler in his book Liverpool Shipping states that the 1648 Borough Records contain references to the transport of Civil war orphans to the colonies in exchange for tobacco. 22 This appears to be the first sign of the shipowners treatment of human beings as a tradeable commodity, a business they were later to exploit with great success. Even after the Irish trade began to recover, the Liverpool merchants must have seen the possibil i ties and scope of trade with the New World. Parkinson notes that in 1668, the Port Book lists

'The Lamb' as making for Barbados, the first of nany to do 50. 23 These West Indian bound ships carried out cloth, candles, beef and butter, return i ng wi th sugar, tobacco, 11 nen yarn and molasses. 24

The new trade routes, and the readiness of the merchants to exploit them, led to a real rise in Liverpool's fortunes. At the same time, fate intervened in making such a northern port seem an even rore

9 10

g£ 11 V lE [it [P®)~!'~ ..,J~VIJ THE POOL~' as 1heJ~ appesrt"d about the Year 1&'0. RIFE.RE.vrES ..1.. n.. ;:'d"I_,,jfp, ~ __ """ --/'J/itI,. r_ D.lI'"" rl"t)(i.r,.,.,I'fi,,opN ,r-trr.; . r~Ah"l;. r,.,.{i- U" ",'r"'" lln.,.., .rnow U.Bt;,,, l;..,v; 1""..rI, r~ E.,~nmN'...... F.J"""'~n,.r_n.l'tW", . .~ G .• r,;.,. f'f'LM/.I'tIwr IJNIg,.. ~ altWl ..;.. BJ)~ "".r-tfJndg". ~tN:rluu-~ . .J l'i4lr NA~. Q/ Jwh.m , a.opJ ,rbw(-. Q JLJIJ,.,.nan .r... _~~. ~ L.ll.nu r~... ,.; 1):' "J ~.~Etu'l'" ~.lY. . ~ ..., LUlu''''''''''.P..m NI_ ~ ~ IiJrI, mul - ' ~4H~l¥,",,~:.J.11.1. nuiJlr,lt nwtVwNItJ . h ",.-.I akrdtltti ~, till aku,. MI' r, mUMl, fll'tk .J1f.d Cen.rw;,-. Q

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a,R«l1mn1lt. ay;naU)raw"".IU".riMI in the Wurt-~t1uJJrJrlg- vI'.l.lUf.iJtI!f.i!r. mullfr>m fW'h~tnllh'RrU muI rn!1inal~. fbrIheS~er" J;iu~.JMliiltetl z,yIM.'./iP...,. . .II12.fJ.

Source-Liverpool Packet NO. 2, 1981 attractive prospect. A series of events in the south - the 1665 Plague, the 1666 Fire of London, the 1667 Dutch raid up the Medway and the bui Id-up of the French navy in the Channel led many southern merchants to move northwards to Liverpool as a 'safe' alternative. 25

The beginning of the eighteenth century saw the start of what came to be known as the 'Triangular Run'. The first Liverpool ship to undertake this trip was 'The Blessing' in 1700, when it sailed from Liverpool to West Africa, on to North America then back to Liverpool.26 This run formed the basic slave-trade route. White servants or cargo ~uld be shipped to Africa where the ships picked up negro slaves which were then exchanged in America for· tobacco and sugar. 27 The slaves ~uld be used on the settler's plantations. It was a highly profitable business and the Liverpool shipowners became adept in undercutting those of other ports and the merchants began to accrue vast profi ts which in turn led to the town's increasing prosperity.

This wealth, derived from Liverpool's growing success as a port, was used to irrprove the town's facilities. Although ships had grown larger and more able to withstand the vagaries of the Atlantic than their predecessors, they were still at the mercy of sudden storms when anchored in the Mersey. Liverpool still only had an open quay for the loading and unloading of cargo. other vessels in port were forced to beach themselves, which proved disastrous in the great gale of 1703 when many ships were sunk and cast adrift.28 Following such a calamity, the irrpracticality of the port's facilities was recognized. The town required permanent deep water alongside a quay, despite the river's

20-30ft. tidal range. J Touzeau in his Rise and Progress of Liverpool records that on May 17th 1710, an Act was obtained 'for the making of a

11 Wet Dock or Basin for the Preservation not only of Merchant Ships but also of Her Majesty's Ships of War' .29 Thomas Steers of London was appointed to design the dock (now referred to as the Old Dock). This new addition to Liverpool's waterfront can be seen in Chadwick's Map of all the streets, lanes and alleys within the Town of Liverpool.3o The former pool has been fi lIed in and the dock occupies the si te of the original sea lake, with a dry dock branching off the entrance basin. The map also shows how the town has finally broken away from the strict medieval H-plan and has begun to spread to the south and east. The number of streets has risen to fifty, which he lists by name, and there is evidence of industry beginning to grow -glass works, saltworks and a rope-making yard are all shown on the plan. The town has a new church, St. Peters, as well as a charity school (the Bluecoat) and alms houses.

A new customs house, inportant to a growing port, has been erected on the eastern edge of the newly built dock. Leading off in the direction of Toxteth Park, finally disafforested in 1604, is the aptly-named Park

Lane. A plan of Liverpool based on that of Eyes, the Corporation Surveyor, also drawn in 1725,31 shows the large aroount of open fields that still surround the town and both plans show how the buildings still keep within the medieval limits on the north side. According to J.A. Picton's Merrorials of Liverpool, the town now had a population of around 11,000 inhabitants living in approximately 2,000 houses, 32 which illustrates just how much the town had grown over the period of 165 years.

Businessmen and merchants both within Liverpool and in the surrounding areas began to see the advantages of easier access to the port. The roads across the county were in a bad state of repair. In particular, the road from Prescot which was the main route for the carriage of coal 12 ...... ------~----- ,~. Source- LiverpooL~Packet NO. 2, 1981

hJ l!lad Oll~ji7~ if Uz.f~1t?-e ad/mm

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17 O~t"all~t~. :.: ... "-- IS 711[T<~(:M .. '...... '~ /9 ge trl;Z(!d~...... !!0 Jj!{lcl~ lane. 'l;%£At~: ...... ·n CJ{'7/UJ1'TCtl ...... ~-v . :.! -:: Bld~derJ j;uzm.Yt.J . 1.J]'l'cn.7 t; ~!rdC11 .,. _. Q(I]( Jl,-(((. .'. It. 1l~7/e,- sIred ...... 2/I/!(il!~J!C Jlra? .. :If' ;;(m~'7.(~Jlrca .. 29!1~tJlrri{'J tllL:;.: . . ---- .'0 (aJ1Ze Jlreel . from the pits at Prescot and Whiston, and Touzeau quotes fram the Council Proceedings that in November 1725 the Town Council saw that it was ' ... highly necessary to Get an Act of Parliament for the Repairing of that Road, so that it may be passable at all times of the year and for Erecting a Turnpike theron'.33

Thomas Patten, a Warrington merchant, was pressing for the Mersey to be made navigable further inland as far back as 1698. Parkinson quotes Patten as stating There have been sent to Liverpool and fram Liverpool 2,000 tons of goods a year .... the River to Manchester is very capable of being made navigable at a very small charge. And this \\Ould encourage all tradesmen ... to came to Liverpool and buy their qoods.34 Patten's enthusiasm marked the beginninq of a period of canal building. The need for easier transport of coal led to the creation of the Mersey and Irwell canal NaVigation, the first navigable canal to use locks and cuttings in England. 35 The Duke of Bridgewater envisaged an all-canal route to Manchester, Which he finally achieved in 1774, with the opening of the Runcorn Locks linking the Bridgewater canal to the Mersey (except for one mile at Norton PrlOry).36 The demand for coal, required for the salt, sugar, pottery, glass and brewing industries in Liverpool as well as for domestic use and export, was increasing constantly and this led to Liverpool Corporation comnissioning a survey of Sankey Brook joining the Mersey to the St. Helen's coalfields. Work was conpleted on the route in 1757. 37 The advantages of a canal system were recognised by merchants throughout the Lancashire cotton and Yorkshire ~llen industries, and after an initial meeting in 1766, it was decided to build a canal that \\Ould link Liverpool and Hull with all the important industrial towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire. This canal, the Leeds-Liverpool canal, was finally completed in 1816. 38 14 .. The building of new canals and the iIYi>rovement of the waterways had led to increased comnercial activity in Liverpool, and the town responded by further iIYi>roving its facilities. 1753 saw the completion of the South

Dock 39 (also known as Salthouse Dock due to its proximity to the sal tw:>rks) and in 1754 the New Exchange and Town Hall, designed by the architect Mr. John Wood, was opened. 40 The fact that such a renowned architect was commissioned shows both the pride and confidence displayed by the Town Council. This confidence is hardly surprising as Liverpool was becoming even roore prosperous and was continually expanding. John

Eyes' plan of Liverpool 1765 41 reveals just how nruch both the town and its docks had spread and developed. The original H-plan has become less prominent due to the large netw:>rk of interconnecting streets and alleys. The new South Dock is depicted full of shIps In dock, and the site of the intended George' s Dock is drawn. There has been an increase in the town's industries, a glassworks, a dye house, a sugar-house, breweries, salt-house and a silk house are all clearly marked on the map, as are the many roperIes with their dIstinct elongated plots of land required for the twisting of the lengths of rope. There are other businesses catering to the needs of the shipowner -chandlers, provision merchants and chronograph makers. 42 A m.unber of squares are being formed - WIlliamson Square, and Clayton Square amongst others. These are the sites of the new town houses being built by the wealthy to be near their \t.Urk yet away from the increasingly busy dock area. Also noticeable are the formally laid-out private gardens, and the pleasure gardens on Ranelagh Street in Which the rich could stroll, relax and socialise, as well as tw:> bowling greens. _The town has also gained a theatre, and a gaol. The population's spiritual needs are being attended to with an increasingly diverse selection of churches, chapels and meeting houses. Expansion has still not taken place to the north of 15 the town, and Yates and Perry's map of 1768 43 shows just how much of the surrounding countryside and villages, including Everton, Kirkdale, Wavertree and Wal ton, have renained untouched, although a nmnber of bui ldings have begun to spread over into the area of Toxteth Park along

Park Lane.

The slave trade had continued to contribute to the port's wealth and reached a peak in 1787. 44 Al though sane .American states had made slavery illegal, there was still a market in the West Indies. However, the anti-slavery lobby was beginning to grCM in Britain and abolitionists were speaking out in Liverpool itself. COncerned with the threat to the town's main source of weal th, the COunci 1 formulated a petition to be sent to Parliament, which is quoted by Touzeau. That your petitioners have also been happy to see the great Increase and di fferent Resources of Trade whi ch has flowed in upon their Town by the numerous canals and other communications from the interior Parts of the Kingdom ...And that from these causes particularly the COnvenience of the Docks and some other local Advantaqes added to the enterprising Spirit of the People which has enabled them to carry on the African Slave Trade wi th Viqour, the Town of Liverpool has arrived at a Pi tch of Mercantile COnsequence which cannot but affect and iITProve the Weal th and Prosperi ty of the Kingdom at Large. 45 However, although the chief source of the town's income was under threat, trade had already begun to develop in what was to prove another profitable area - the transport of cotton. In 1770, 5,521 bags of cotton had been imported from the West Indies46 and 1784 saw the first imports of raw .American cotton.

Cotton was a valuable material for the port of Liverpool. The iIrported cotton passed through the port to supply the Lancashire cotton mi lIs and textile industry. Manchester's grCMth had paralleled that of LIverpool

16 and both towns were interdependent. Charles Eyes' plan of the Town and Township of Liverpool in 1785 47 shows the sites of two intended docks - Kings and Queens Docks-both designed to cope with the cotton trade with America. Kings Dock opened in 1788, Queens Dock in 1796.48 Eyes' plan also shows the Leeds-Liverpool canal entering from the north and ending at an inland basin on the northern edge of the town, next to a coal yard. To the south of the town, a corrplex system of roads now adjoined the town's boundary at ParI iament Street and a stone quarry has been set up near St. James' Church, to supply the stone for the developing building trade. There is now an infirmary and a House of Correction. This plan depicts the land surrounding the town with each strip labelled as to its owner. These strips are becaning noticeably smaller and narrower, a fact which was to have an important effect on the town's growth in the nineteenth century.

Liverpool continued to grow, as did its shipping trade. Its docks could cope with the larger, heavier ships. Its warehouses, four to five storeys high, held tons of imports and exports and goods came to Liverpool for shipment overseas from all over the country, by canal and road.

Wi 11 iam SWire's Plan of Liverpool and .ll. Environs in 1824 49 shows further changes in the town. The buildings are densely packed between narrow streets and alleys, and the town's expansion is no longer limited to the south and east sides. The building of the Leeds-Liverpool canal appears to have acted as a trigger for building to spread northwards. SUddenly roads, factories and houses have emerged following the line of the canal breaking through the town's medieval limits. The long, narrow streets running at right angles to the canal owe their shape and size to 17 the field strips Which they have been built upon and which were acquired piecemeal by the developers. To the east, Liverpool is spreading its tentacles towards the villages of Everton and Edge Hill. Toxteth Park is being consumed by a grid-iron pattern of streets linking roperies and timber yards, as well as houses. A new dock has been built - Prince's Dock - and another is planned even further north. The private gardens of the wealthy have been eaten up in the bullding boom, and it has become fashionable to live 'out of town' in an area such as .Abercrombie Square to the east of the town. A variety of public amenities now exist, including gasworks, a blind asylum, an opthalmic infirmary as well as a new general infinnary. The spiritual needs attended to are not only dependant on which faith but also nationality - Welsh and Scottish Chapels have appeared alongside those of different denominations. So Liverpool must have been drawing people fran a wide area of the country . . Liverpool's commercial activities reached such a pitch that the problem of transport and coomunications worsened. The roads were sti 11 rough and the going slow, particularly in winter. The canals had irrproved access to the port but took long, circuitous routes, and the movement of goods traffic was slow, at the mercy of the surrmer droughts and winter freezes. The port suffered fran the resulting bottleneck in the flow of material for shipment, and it forced the town's commercial leaders to cast around for a solution. This turned out to be a rallway. Representatives from both Liverpool and Manchester went to witness the opening of the Stockton-Darlington Railway in 1825. 50 Impressed, their evidence and opinions helped towards the formation of the Liverpool and

Manchester Railway. George Stevenson was comnissioned to survey the route between Liverpool and Manchester, was replaced by the Rennie 18 Brothers, and then was re-commissioned to supervise the building of the railway which finally opened on September 15th 1830. 51 Initially, the Liverpool passenger terminus was si tuated in Crown Street on the eastern edge of the town, but such was the popularity of the railway, it was decided to build a new station at a more central location - Lime Street Station. There was an additional line for both passengers and goods running down to Wapping Station near Queen's Dock. 52 This would ensure the quick passage of the American raw cotton straight fram the ships and on by rail to Manchester's cotton mills. Both stations are to be seen on a plan of 1836 Liverpool published for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 53 A cOl'lPCU'ison between this and the earl ier maps shows that Wapping Station made use of the original long, straight site of a ropery. Apart fram the emergence of the rai 1ways, the other most noticeable feature on this plan is the replacement of the Old Dock now fi lIed in as more accessible docks are avai lable. The si te has been used for the bui Iding of a new CUstoms House. The docks now stretch from Brunswick Dock in the south up to Clarence Dock in the north. The Leeds-Liverpool canal has been extended, now terminating just inland fram the Prince's Dock. The outskirts of the town have begun to reach the outlying villages of Everton and Kirkdale, yet, despite the obvious threat of the town continuing to spread, the elegant houses of the rich are still being built at the eastern edge of the built-up area. These villas gather around formally laid-out streets and squares.

The success of the Liverpool-Manchester Rai lway attracted other rai lway conpanies and the networks gradually spread across the town and linked up providing access fram the port to Birmingham and on to London. Finally, 1846 saw the amalgamation of the Liverpool and Manchester, Grand Junction, and London and Binningham Rai lways to fonn the London 19 and North Western Railway Company. 54 This expansion of the railways, Which provided easy access to the docks, led to the extension of the Leeds-Liverpool canal. In an attenpt to keep pace wi th the facil i ties offered by the railways, the canal finally reached the River Mersey in 1846 via a series of locks leading into COllingwood Dock and fram thence into Salisbury Dock. 55

The mid-nineteenth century saw the beqinning of another boomrtrade for Liverpool - that of the emigrant ships. Many of those emigrants came from Ireland. Dissatisfied with their largely rural life and made desperate by the starvation resulting fram the continual failure of the potato crops, thousands emigrated to America and AUstralia via the port of Liverpool. In 1848, 131,121 emiQI'ants passed through Liverpool of which 127,501 headed for America, 190 for the West Indies, 298 for Australia, 14 for Hong KOng and 12 for the Falkland Islands. In the

1850's, Liverpool became the principal port for emigrants sailing to

Australia and New Zealand. 56 Many were attracted by the lure of gold in Austral ia, and this precious cargo was carried back to Liverpool by the returning emigrant ships.57 Lack of sufficient money to pay for their passage, or sometimes swindled out of it by rogues practised in that art, led to some emigrants never getting further than Liverpool. In this way, the Irish population qrEM, and this influx of people led to the need for more cheap housing, which tended to be built to the north of the town and in the central areas. Benson' s Plan of Liverpool, drawn around 1860,58 shows the high density of long, narrow streets running between Vauxhall Road and Scotland Road, and down to the dock area. In complete contrast, to the east of the town lay the increasing number of town houses distinguishable by the neat, grid-iron pattern of the streets which seem much wider than elsewhere in the town. Ever ton , 20 21

IENSOn PLAN OF LIVERPOOL

REFERENCE TO THE WARDS 1 ivrrlon & l(h·kd.ut" 2 S

Source - Liverpool Packet NO 2 + 2, 1978 Kirkdale, West Derby and Toxteth Park have now been absorbed into the urban spread, although still having relatively fewer buildings. The docks now extend yet further, - from Egerton Dock in the South along to canada and Huskisson Docks at the north end - in order to cope with the increase in demand for quayside facilities.

A comparison between this plan and Chadwick's plan of 1725 reveals just how rapid Liverpool's deveI oInent has been. In a matter of only 135 years, the town has grown from a small port wi th only fifty streets and alleys to a large, bustling town with innumerable streets, lanes and squares. The building of the railways has irrproved public transport and led to the early beginnings of the suburbs. Liverpool now spread over a riverside frontage of over five miles and inland for a distance of roughly two and a half miles. 59 This growth was a result of the opportunism of the town's merchants, shipowners and councillors. Their recognition of the port's potential encouraged inprovements in the dock facilities and the transport of cargo, which in turn brought the town xrore business - both conmercial and industrial - and therefore rore wealth. Thus by 1860, Liverpool had become a thriving Victorian port which promised to expand further still.

22 !. MacBride, J .A.P. "Toxteth Park, site of the Sefton Park and Surrounding District", A.A.S. Proceedings, 1866/67, p.122.

2. Touzeau, J. Rise and Progress of Liverpool from 1551-1835, 1910, vol.l, p.5.

3. Baines, E. Baines' Lancashire: History. Directory and Gazetteer of the County of Lancaster, 1968, vol.l, p.150.

4. Touzeau, 1910, vol.l, p.7.

5. Parkinson, C.N. Rise of the Port of Liverpool, 1952, p.10.

6. Ibid., pp.13-14.

7. "Lyrpole A.D. 1331", Liverpool Packet No.2: Maps and Plans of Liverpool from Earliest Times to 1830, 198!.

8. Parkinson, 1952, p.15.

9. Ibid., p.5.

10. Baines, E. History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, 1836, vol.4, p.190.

11. "Lerpoole Hauen, 1598", Liverpool Packet No.2, 198!.

12. Parkinson, 1952, p.10.

13. Ibid., pp.17-18.

14. Ibid., p.25.

15. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!'

16. "Lerpoole, 1572", Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

17. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

18. Parkinson, 1952, p.27.

19. Ibid., p.36.

20. Ibid., p.49.

2!. Ibid., p.5!. 22. Chandler, G. Liverpool Shipping, 1960, p.25.

23. Parkinson, 1952, p.53.

24. Ibid., p.54.

25. Ibid., p.57.

23 26. Chandler, 1960, p.l05.

27. Ibid., p.l05.

28. Parkinson, 1952, pp.78-79.

29. Touzeau, 1910, vol.l, p.379.

30. "Map of all the streets, lanes and alleys within the Town of Liverpool, 1725" (Chadwick), Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

31. "Plan of Liverpool as it was in the year 1725", Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

32. Picton, 1903, vol.l, p.181.

33. Touzeau, 1910, vol.l, p.417.

34. Parkinson, 1952, p.77.

35. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.1.

36. 0wen, O. canals to Manchester, 1977, p.25.

37. Norton, P. Waterways and Railways to Warrington, 1974, pp.11-12.

38. Biddle, G. Pennine WaterwaY, 1977, p.6.

39. Parkinson, 1952, p.81.

40. Touzeau, 1910, vol.l, pp.590-591.

41. "Plan of Liverpool, 1765" (John Eyes), Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

42. Spieql, F. "Descriptive notes", Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

43. "Environs of Leverpool, 1768" (Yates and Perry), Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

44. Parkinson, 1952, p.139.

45. Touzeau, 1910, vol.1, pp.590-591.

46. Picton, 1903, vol.1, p.207.

47. "Town and Township of Liverpool, 1785" (Charles Eyes), Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

48. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol. 1.

49. "Plan of Liverpool and its Environs, 1824" (SWire), Liveroool Packet No.4: Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1970.

50. Ferneyhough, F. Liverpool and Manchester Railway 1830-1980, 1980, p.9.

24 51. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.1.

52. Ferneyhough, 1980, p.37.

53. "1836 Liverpool", Liverpool Packet No. 2+2: Maps and Plans of Liverpool fran 1830s to Present Day, 1978.

54. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.1.

55. Hyde, F.E. Liverpool and the Mersey, 1971, p.81.

56. Chandler, 1960, p.227.

57. Ibid., p.229.

58. "1860/62 Benson's Plan of Liverpool", Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978.

59. Ibid.

25 The call for 'Peoples' Parks'

Liverpool's growth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was paralleled by that of Manchester, Bradford, Bolton and other towns in the North and Midlands. The nineteenth century in particular, was a period of great expansion in both industry and comnerce, and nany of

England's modern cities owe their rise to the boom in the Victorian textile industry. The wealth created and the jobs provided in these towns caused nany to travel across the country in search of \\Ork. Towns such as Liverpool became increasingly cosm:>poll tan as those seeking errployment poured in from both the surrounding rural areas and from further afield - Wales, Scotland, Ireland and overseas. As a result, the urban population swelled and the problems of the growing town began to multiply.

The evils of the Victorian city - the cramped housing condItions, the narrow streets, the state of the poor and the misery of urban life - have been well documented in a variety of nineteenth century novels by such authors as Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Kingsley. The horrors facing the migrant \\Urker, atterrpting to adapt to the urban envirorunent, can only be inaqined. As the towns became increasingly prosperous, they began to spread, the surrounding rural areas being absorbed at an alarminq rate. Whereas the eighteenth century towndweller could walk into the open countryside on his SUnday off, the urban dweller of the nineteenth century had no such easy access. B.J. Colenan in his book The Idea of the City .1n. Nineteenth Century Britain includes an extract from Enqel's Conditions of the WOrking Class in England. He describes 26 a town, such as London, where a man may wonder for hours together without reaching the beginning of the end, without meeting the slightest hint which could lead to the inference that there is open country within reach. 1

As the towns swelled in size and the population cranmed into dense1y packed, poorly maintained houses, diseases spread rapidly and the rortal i ty rates soared. Constant outbreaks of cholera and typhus led to increasing concern for the public health. Parliament was forced to recognize the need for government guidelines on the regulation of building construction. The Report of the Select Conmi ttee on the Health of Towns 2 in 1840 stated that the national population had increased at a rate of sixteen percent during the previous decade, especially in towns and cities. After hearing evidence fram a series of professional and reputable gentlemen representing some of the larger towns, the Conmi ttee recornnended a number of measures to iITProve condi tions in urban districts. These included a general Bullding.Act to lay down minimum regulations for the dimensions of working-class houses. It was hoped that such an Act would prevent "fonns of bullding inconsistent wi th health". It also advocated the setting up of local Boards of Health to control the building of sewers and drains.

In 1844i a Royal Conmission was set up to "Inquire into the State of Large Towns and Populous Districts wi th g view to inprovinq the social conditions and health of the inhabitants".3 This Ccmnission heard evidence from several eminent persons representing the various towns, and made rore recomnendations for measures to irrprove the drainage, paving, water-supply and general living conditions of the urban population. The power to irrplement the rules and regulations governing the sani tary condi tions was granted to Local Boards of Heal th under the

1848 Act for PrOtroting the Public Heal th. 4

27 Liverpool, at this time, was the epitome of the Victorian commercial town with its inherent problems. The town's rapid growth had brought its drawbacks - poverty, overcrow:Hng, insanitary conditions and a high

IOOrtality rate. 5 In fact, by mid-century Liverpool's death rate was the highest in the country. 6 The constant influx of migrants exacerbated the problems. The Simmons SUrvey of 1790 had estimated Liverpool's population at 55,732 7 (including those residing in charity and hospital accommodation). This continued to rise, being 118,972 in 1821,8 165,175 by 1831,9 and finally reaching 223,003 in 1841. 10 Such a surge in m.nnbers resulted in chronic overcrM.ing. Cheap acccmrxxiation was in great demand and this need was answered by t\t.O particular types of housing - the 'Back to Back' or Court dwellinq, and the Cellar dwellinq. The former were bull t around a central court about 6-15 feet wide. Three storeys high, these houses were built back-to-back with the court houses behind, the only opening to each house being frcm the court itself.ll The result was dark, gloomy, ill-ventilated houses. Each contained several farni lies so that overcrM.ing was ccmron. The court had one or occassionally t\t.O shared privies. Entirely enclosed except for a narrow, tunnel-like entrance frcm the street beyond, the courts became filled with refuse - the COuncil not being responsible for the

'scavenging' of the courts until 1846. 12 According to the Second Report of the Royal Oommission of 1844-5, "In the number and the undrained conditions of courts, Liverpool appears to have an unhappy pre-eminence, and to surpass all other towns, bad as many of them are in this respect. "13

Perhaps the IOOst unhealthy fonn of acccmrxxiation, however, was the cellar dwelling. By 1790, Liverpool already had 1,728 inhabited cellars housing 6,780 persons. 14 This figure had increased to 6,294 cellars 28 forming homes for 20,168 people by 1842. 15 Some of these cellars were

themselves situated within the dark, narrow courts. Usually 10-12 feet square, the cell ings could be less than 6 feet high. The windows gave little light - in fact many had no window, relying solely on the doorway for light and ventilation, itself below ground level. Although same of the cellars were stone-flaqqed, many sinply had bare earth floors. SOmetimes, there was a front and back cellar, the latter being totally dependant on the doorway from the front cellar for the passage of air and light. As may be expected the cellars were danp, cold and dark, and

suffered from the drainage problems of the whole court. 16 Often si tuated next to middens and privies, the overflow tended to ooze through the cellar walls, increasing the health hazard to the multiple

famil ies occupying the basement rooms. The SE'ARCH Project mnnber 18 entitled "Blackspot on the Mersey" includes a part of Dr. Duncan'sl7 statement to the Sani tary Inquiry of 1842, which reveals just how squalid the conditions were. In one cellar in Lace St .•.. the filthy waste thus collected measured not less than 2 feet in depth; and in another cellar, a well, 4 feet deep, into which this stinking fluid was allowed to drain, was discovered below the bed where the family slept. IS

These court and cellar dwellings tended to be concentrated in the areas near to the docks and to the north of town, and housed a particularly high concentration of Irish migrants, desperate for cheap

accommodation. 19 The houses were built quickly and cheaply alongside breweries, tanneries, and other industries whose output tended to pollute the atmosphere. 20 W. Enfield in his Essay towards the History of Liverpool tells us that "there is no place in Great Bri tain, except London and Edinburgh, which contains so many inhabi tants in so small a cOO'q)ass",21 and that 29 the first observation which a stranger makes on his arrival in Liverpool is generally, perhaps, that the streets are much too narrow, either for convenience, ornament, or health ... and that, in general, the buildings are so crowded, that the inhabi tants are much Irore indebted for their health to nature than to art.22

The heal th of the inhabitants did suffer. Insani tary condit ions bred epidemics. Liverpool, as a port, was prone to the introduction of shipborne diseases, and once cholera or typhus broke out, it swept through the town with devastating effect. The airless habitations of the town's poor were recognized as a major factor in the rise in the munber of deaths from constU'lPtion. As far back as 1772, of a total of 1085 deaths, 358 were caused by this disease of the lungs. 23 J. Wallace in his General and Descriptive History of the Ancient and Present State of the Town of Liverpool in 1795, states how a Dr. Moss had represented Liverpool as .. unWholesome, and a very bad residence to persons afflicted with chronic coughs, catarrhs, consumptions, and asthmas, not only by the quality of the air, but also of the confined and bad dispositions of the streets and squares ... their gloomy and confined situations ... un doubtedly prevent that regular current of air necessary to the health of the inhabitants. 24 There was popular bel ief at this time that diseases were caused and

spread by 'terrestrial exhalations or vapors'. Known as the Miasmic Theory, 25 it differs little from the theories of the medieval apothecaries When faced with the Plague. However, the Victorian's did recognize that poor housing and ~rking condi tions were detrimental to the heal th of lower classes. There was a growing awareness of the importance of fresh air. At the same time, the problem of lack of access to open ground wi thi n the new, sprawl i ng urban landscape was realised. The need for housing had led to every available space wi thin the towns being acquired by developers. The expanded town boundaries 30 made a trip to the countryside more difficult.

This problem led to the Report in 1833 of the Select Comni ttee on Publ ic

Walks. 26 Its brief was "to consider the best means of securing open spaces in the vicinity of populous towns, as public walks and places of exercise, calculated to promote the health and comfort of the inhabitants". The Report came to a mnnber of conclusions. It discovered that the population of the large towns had expanded and had seen a particularly large increase in those \t.Orking in manufacturing and mechanical fields. Despite this increase, or rather because of the resulting building boom, there had been no provision of open spaces for relaxation, the open land having been acquired for building. TIle Report believed such spaces and public walks \t.Ould "aid the caniort, heal th and content" of the humbler classes.

Some of the large towns had preserved or created walks for the inhabi tants, including Liverpool, Bristol and Nottingham, but even so, these were judged to be inadequate for the size of the population. The 1833 Report maintained that the young, especially, should have open qround for exercise and recreation in order to keep them out of mischief, and away from "low and debasing pleasures" such as visiting gin houses, doq fights and boxing matches. Industrial \t.Orkers suffered from being enclosed for long hours in heated factories. The Comni ttee believed that fresh air and exercise on their SUnday off was vital. SUch walks were seen as an al ternative to the ginhouses - a popular resort for the workers during their precious time off work. The Report advocated an Act to enable land to be bequeathed for the purpose of establishing public walks. It also suggested that strips of land should be maintained alongside turnpikes and canals within a certain distance 31 of towns, and that trees should be planted and seats provided. It stressed how the value of adjacent land would rise - maybe in an attempt to offset any hostility to such projects by local landowners Who objected to the working classes encroaching on their land.

1835 saw a Bill to Facilitate the Formation and Establishment of Public Walks. Playgrounds, Baths and Places of Heal thy Recreation and Amusement in the ~ Air, in the Neighbourhood of such Cities. Boroughs and Towns

may require them <-,the- --Use --and Accommodation --of their

Inhabitants. 27 This Bill took up many of the suggestions made in the 1833 Report. It attempted to encourage support amongst the wealthy by bestowing honours in return for donations - £100 earned the rank of

Governor for life, £10 per annum brought an annual governorship. The Bill suggested the election of a Committee of Public Recreation responsible for the creation and management of the public walks. It would allow them to commission designs and plans for projects, procure estimates of the costs, and to judge how much of a design it was expedient to bui Id. The Act would enpower the Commi ttee to borrow m::mey to finance the works, based on an allowance of ten shillings per inhabitant. A number of guidelines were laid down for the formation of public walks. These included suggestions concerning the planting of trees and shrubs and ornamental devices, such as fountains. It was stressed that the walks should be "fenced off and made secure from all public annoyances, for the safe and retired use of females and children." Curiously, al though the need for exercise was recognized, these guidelines maintained that "no athletic games or sports be penni tted in any part of the public walks". Exercise was seemingly to be restricted to walking, as the very title Public Walks implied. The grounds were to be furnished wi th seats and music perfonned from time to 32 time. More vigorous exercise was to be permitted in the Play Grounds - gymnastic exercises, cricket, archery and "other healthy sports" were to be encouraged. But the Bill stressed that "all conflicts of a personally irritating nature, such as wrestling, cudgelling and Boxing, be prohibited." It also banned animal-baiting and intoxicating drinks. The Comnittee \r.Ould be allowed to set "IOOderate" rates of admission to cover the expenses of the Public Walks and Play Grounds, a clause Which, if acted upon \r.Ould have excluded the poorest of the town's inhabitants, the people most in need of such facilities.

The suggestions included in the 1835 Bill were re-iterated in the 1837 Bill for the Establistunent of Public Walks. and Play Grounds. and of Publ ic Insti tutions. Libraries and Museums. for the purpose of prOlOOting the Health. Morals. Instruction and Enjoyment of the People. 28 This Bill illustrated the \r.Ork of the Victorian philanthropists who wished to provide the poorer classes with access to facilities formerly only enjoyed by the privileged few. It proposed to extend the scope and powers of the elected Conmi ttee of Publ ic Recreation.

In 1840, the Report of the Select Comnittee on the Health of Towns commented on the need for open spaces. The augmentation of buildings in the vicinities of these crowded cities seem to call for provisions to insure some open spaces being preserved, calcu lated for Public Walks, essential to the health and comfort of the poorer classes ... it presses more and more as the population of these great towns rapidly increases, and many witnesses have spoken of the growing necessity for some such provision. 29 In 1841, the Government allocated the sum of £10,000 to be used towards the costs of creating the recoomended Publ ic Walks in the large manufacturing towns around the country. 30

33 The cal1 for public open spaces was further stressed in the aformentioned 1844-5 Royal Commission Inquiry into the State of large Towns and Populous Districts. Those giving evidence included Dr. Duncan of Liverpool who stated "that deficiency of fresh air and of exercise are among the most powerful and the most important, because often the

most remediable of the causes from which scrofulous diathesis arises". 31 . Despite the constant references to public walks in successive Parliamentary Reports and Bills, there appeared to have been little action taken, as the Comnission noted the "general want of any Publ ic Walks, which might enable the middle and poorer classes to have the advantage of fresh air and exercise in their occassional hours of leisure". Part of the problem had been the reI iance on local benefactors to provide suitable land and finance. It was the 1848 Act for Promoting the Public Health which finally empowered the Local Authorities to purchase land for the purpose of creating and maintaining public walks.

Despite the national recognition of the need for open spaces and public walks. Local Authorities were slow to act. For the next few years. the public still had to rely on the benevolence of local landowners in providing suitable recreation areas. However. the idea of parks being the 'lungs of the city' had emerged and pressure was placed on the individual town councils to act.

Liverpool's rapid population growth combined with the density and spread of its overcra...ded housing. made ita prime exanple of a town badly in

need of publ ic open spaces. As the town had grown, the urban sprawl ate up more of the surrounding countryside. and its poorer people. without the advantage of carriages. could no longer easily reach the open land

34 beyond the boundaries. At one time, the people were able to stroll and bathe along the banks of the River Mersey,32 but as the docks developed and expanded, even this recreational facility was denied them.

Liverpool had, in fact, lost some of the public walks it had previously created. In 1743, the Corporation had established two 'Ladies' Walks'. Each was built at a cost of twenty guineas. The southern walk was created at the top of Duke st. on the site of a ropery, the other, northern walk lay near to Old Hall St. 33 The Duke St. Walk is plotted on John Eyes' Plan of Liverpool 1765,34 and the second walk can be seen on Charles Eyes' Plan of Liverpool 1785. 35 These Ladies' Walks lasted approximately thirty years but the commercial needs of the town were decreed to be llOre inportant and so they fell into the hands of the developers, the llOre northerly walk being needed to extend the Leeds-

Liverpool canal and the local brick yards.

Amongst the evidence heard by the 1833 Select Committee on Public walks, was that of a Liverpool man - John Ashton Yates, Esq.36 He told the Comni ttee that Liverpool had two publ ic walks avai lable for use by the poor or middle-classes - St. James' Walk and The Parade. St. Jarnes'

Walk was bui I t along the western edge of a stone quarry (later converted into a cemetery). The site of this walk can also be seen on Charles Eyes' Plan of Liverpool, 1785. Enfield describes this walk as being Upon an agreeable elevation, which comnands an extensive and noble prospect, including the town, the river, the Cheshire land, the Welsh Mountains, and the sea. It is of considerable length and much inproved by art. 37 However, as Liverpool had expanded, the open land around this walk became sub-divided into building plots and the advantageous views began to be obliterated by the surroundings, as shown on SWire's 1824 Plan of 35 Liverpool and its Environs. 38 Yates' evidence to the COmmittee maintained that the walk was now little used, its beauty being spoilt by the srroke from the town. The Parade was si tuated along the waterfront edge of George' s Dock, next to the timber yard and can be seen on

Roper's plan of Liverpool In. 1807. 39 Half a mile long and twenty yards wide, Yates described it as spacious and beautiful, giving a good view of the comnerce .of the river and a popular SUnday walk for the 'humbler classes' .

Charles Horsfall, Esq., Mayor of Liverpool also gave evidence to the

Ccmni ttee. 40 He stated that the town had t\t.U or three riverside walks - the aforenamed Georges Parade, Princes Parade - along the edge of the new Princes Dock, and Marine Parade to the west of Kings Dock. Both of the latter t\t.U walks are marked on the 1836 plan of Liverpool.41 Horsfall's evidence constantly stressed the lack of available sites for public walks and the expense of providinq them. He maintained that the Corporation was wi 11 ing to provide such walks but had been unable to do so because of the costs involved. Yet Liverpool Corporation was one of the richest in the country owing to the large estate it possessed, its income at the time being between £90,000 and £100,000 per annum. 42

There were many residents of Liverpool who saw the need for IOOre open spaces. Dr. Duncan, in his canpaiqn for better conditions for the town's poor, gave his views to the Select COmmittee on the Health of Towns in 1840. He stated

I think that if large open spaces, of several acres in extent, could be introduced into the centre of some of those populous districts, it \t.Uuld be very corlducive to the heal th of the town. 43

These various Government Reports established the desirability of 36 ------

r ------~,..,.....::_=__,_""7~~~...... ".~~~~~~ I~ , REPEJI.;BYCE , ~ I ~ .. <.<.,..,....~- i ,~",' i ~'

Source - Liverpool Packet NO. 2, 1981

-"._,-_ .. providing open spaces for the public's recreation. However, Liverpool's Town Counci 1 seemed to persist in iqnorinq the problem. The people had gained access to a park, but only due to the philanthropic nature of one of the town's residents - Richard Vauqhan Yates. He created Princes

Park in 1843 as a private park, but knowing the needs of the local community, he generously allowed the public access to a section of the park. 44 It was to remain the sole park in Liverpool for a number of years.

OVer the next twenty years, the need for somethinq more than simply publ ic walks arose. The ~rkinq classes needed open land for I1Dre vigorous exercise. The carrpaign continued at both a national and a local level. The purse-pinching attitudes of the landowners and councils were attacked. B.!. Coleman quotes Thomas carlyle, who in 1843 wrote that surely every "toiling Manchester" should have 100 acres or so .. for its little children to disport in; for its all-conquering ~rkers to take a breath of twilight air in? You ~uld say so! A willinq legislature could say so with effect. And to whatsoever 'vested interest' or such like stood up, gainsayinq merely 'I shall lose my profits'- the willing legislature \oK)uld answer 'Yes, but my sons and daughters will gain health, and life, and a soul'.45

The campaign was continued in the 1850' s by the Farl of Derby. 46

Speaking in Bel ton in 1855, he stated ... it is wronq that thirty thousand, fifty thousand or sixty thousand •.. even in some places one hundred thousand hllllBn beings should be cooped up in one spot w1 thout somethi ng in the nature of a park or public garden, in which children and boys may have their outdoor amuse ments, and qrown men and \oO'OOn take exercise and breathe the air of heaven as little obscured by SlOOke as may be. 4'7

The call for the provision of public parks in Liverpool peaked in the

1860' s, arid was spear-headed large 1y by local newspapers. one paper in

38 particular, The Porcupine, constantly lobbied the Council to provide the working classes with suitable parks. Satirical in tone, it commented on social conditions and the lack of provision for the town's poor. In an

article enti tied Liverpool and its parks .= g plea for further

provision, 48 it bemoaned the 'godly ecclesiastics' and 'municipal philanthropists' for their condemnation of any desire for entertainment, fresh air and exercise as being 'carnal recreations'. The paper was aware of the tendency of the working-classes to turn to drink as a form of entertainment, and saw parks as a healthy alternative. The article reveals that one of the popular pre-election promises of each Councillor

I was· to provide the town wi th parks, and that not one of them "who did not protest that his sole and sinqle object in desiring a seat in the Council, was to devote his genius and zeal to providing parks for the people". Once the elections were over, the successful councillors appeared to renege on their pre-election promises.

The town's open spaces were still limited - the riverside parades and st. James' Walk were inadequate. The latter had deteriorated over the years and nOw backed on to a cemetery. Porcupine described it as "a blackened grass plot" wi th "the vapours of a charnel house, the healthful exhalations from our dear brethren and sisters departed, steaming upwards", and that "promenading there is sure to transfer you before too long to a nook in the quiet cemetery below".

There was also a field with the rather grand name of Wavertree Park,

laid out by the Council in 1856. 49 Porcupine termed this "a dingy old field which an epicurean donkey in a country vi llage would turn from with disdain". The Council had acquired the Newsham House Estate in

1846 50 with the intent of using the land to form a public park, but the

39 Council's dislike of expending money for such a purpose had led to the land being left untouched for fifteen years. The Porcupine was at its most cutting and sarcastic when referring to the lack of council action at Newsham. It quoted Mr. Gladstone's condenmation of allowing the ground to go to waste, and letting it become "tenanted with wild beasts". The Porcupine pointed out that part of the ground was certainly occupied by Alderman Gardner!

One of the most prominent men writing for this satirical newspaper, and very closely involved with the canpaign for people's parks, was H. Shimmin. In July 1861, he wrote a series of articles entitled SUnday

Evening in the Park. 51 The 'park' in question was actually Toxteth Park. Once a medieval hunting park with forest, picturesque inlets, and views across the surrounding landscape, the northern end had now become a part of the urban sprawl. The whole theme of the article is a parody of the traditional Sunday stroll dressed in Sunday best. It contains vivid descriptions of the poverty and depressing housing conditions of the poor. Whereas the rich could travel by carriage to rural areas, the working classes were confined to the airless locality of the town. It tells of "men and \4.OllI9n, wi th sallow faces and wan cheeks", who emerge from "the dark dens and sit upon the steps just upon the level of the street, in which position they can imbibe the exhalations from the decayed vegetable matter and other refuse with which the street is. strewed". The men gather around the 'grog shops' having no alternative form of recreation. The articles depict a very depressing scenario, and seem a powerful voice in the call for 'people's parks'.

It became popular around this time for panoramic views of the town to be drawn and both Ackermann' s Panoramic View of Liverpool from the South

40 West 52 in 1847 and the General Panoramic View of Liverpool from the Mersey53 drawn by M. Jackson and T. Sulman in 1865 (from a balloon tethered over the Mersey), show the mass ive spread of the town. The latter view, in particular, reveals the height and density of the buildings, the lack of space, the number of chimneys emitting smoke and fmnes, and the altogether claustrophobic character of the town. The only open space visible is that of Prince's Park in the southern corner, which proves just how valuable a faci 1i ty it was, and how badly-needed public parks were.

By the mid-1860's, even the Town COuncil could prevaricate no longer. Liverpool was promising to absorb yet rore of the surrounding countryside. The extension of the local railway network was making comnuting in and out of town a possibility, and so houses were being built further and further out from the centre. As a result, land prices soared, and the Council f,inally realised that if any open tracts of land were to be preserved, then they had to act quickly. Thus, by 1865, the CorPOration finally began its programme for the creation of Liverpool's public parks.

41 1. Col eman , B. I. Idea of the City in Nineteenth Century Britain, 1973, p.l08.

2. "Report from the Select Comnittee on the Heal th of Towns", B.P.P., 1840, vol.XI, p.277.

3. "Reports of the Royal Conmission inquiring into the state of large Towns and Populous Districts", B.P.P., 1844, vol.XVII and 1845, vol.XVIII.

4. .Act for Prorooting the Public Heal th, 1848, cap.LXIII.

5. Laxton, P. "Liverpool in 1848". In: PatIrore, J.A. and Hocigkiss, A.G. (Eels.), Merseyside.in Maps, 1970, p.21.

6. L.R.O., SEARCH Project No. 18, "Black Spot on the Mersey", 1978, p.13.

7. Gore's Liverpool Directory, 1790, p.256.

8. "Abstract of the .Answers 'and Returns of the Population", B.P.P., 1822, vol-XV.

9. "Abstract of the .Answers and Returns of the Population", B.P.P., 1833, vol-XXXVI.

10. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol. 1.

11. L.R.O. SEARCH Project No.18, "Black Spot on the Mersey", 1978, p.l0.

12. Tay I or , I.C. "Court and Cellar Dwelling: Eighteenth century origin of the Liverpool Slum", H.S.L.C. Transactions, 1970,' vol.122, pp.84-85.

13. "Second Report of the Royal Comnission inquiring into the state of large Towns and Populous Districts", B.P.P., 1845, vol.XVIII, p.26.

14. Wallace, J. General and Descriptive History of the Ancient and Present State of the Town of Liverpool, 1795, p.69.

15. "First Report of the Royal COmmission inquiring into the state of large Towns and Populous Districts", B.P.P., 1844, vol.XVII, p.14.

16. Ibid., p.14.

17. Dr. William Henry D\mcan was the first local Medical Officer of Heal th in England. He was appointed to be Liverpool's Medical Officer under a private Act - The Liverpool Sanitary .Act, 1847.

18. L.R.O. SEARCH Project No.18, "Black Spot on the Mersey", 1978, p.l0.

42 19. Ibid., p.5.

20. Finch, J. Statistics of Vauxhall Ward, Liverpool: The condition of the \o.Urking class in Liverpool in 1842, 1986, p.vii.

21. Enfield, W. Essay towards the History of Liverpool, 1773, 1972, p.25.

22. Ibid., p.2!.

23. Ibid., p.3!.

24. Wallace, 1795, p.30.

25. Dyos, H.J. and Wolff, M. Victorian City: Images and Realities, 1973, vol.2, p.635.

26. "Report of the Select Comnittee on Public Walks", B.P.P., 1833, vol.XV, p.337.

27. "Bill to Facil i tate the Fonnation and Establishment of Publ ic Walks", B.P.P., 1835, vol.IV, pp.67 and 75.

28. "Bill for the Establishment of Public Walks", B.P.P., 1837, vol.IV, p.61.

29. "Report of the Select Comnittee on the Health of Towns", B.P.P., 1840, vol.XI, p.296.

30. "Estimates etc., Miscellaneous services for the Year ending 31st March 1842", B.P.P., 1841, vo 1. XIV, p.475.

31. "Second Report of the Royal Comnission inquiring into the state of large Towns and Populous Districts", B.P.P., 1845, vol.XVIII, p.3 (footnotes).

32. PatIOOre, J .A. "OUtdoor Recreation". In: PatIOOre, J .A. and Hodgkiss, A.G. (Eels.), Merseyside in Maps, 1970, p.61.

33. Touzeau, 1910, vol.1, p.455.

34. "Plan of Liverpool, 1765" (John Eyes), Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

35. "Plan of the Town and Township of Liverpool, 1785" (Charles Eyes), Liverpool Packet No.2, 198!.

36. "Report of the select Comnittee on Public Walks", B.P.P., 1833, vol.XV, p.377.

37. Enfield, 1972, p.65.

38. "Plan of Liverpool and its Environs, 1824" (SWire), Liverpool Packet No.4, 1970.

39. "Liverpool, 1807" (Roper) , Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981.

43 40. "Report of the Select Comnittee on Public Walks", B.P.P., 1833, vol.>W, p.381. 41. "1836 Liverpool", Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978. 42. "Report of the Select Comnittee on Public Walks", B.P.P., 1833, vol.>W, p.378. 43. "Report from the Select Oammittee on the Health of Towns", B.P.P., 1840, vol.XI, p.450.

44. L. R. 0., Thompson, H. Y. Mem:>randum on the proposed adopt ion of Prince's Park m: the City of Liverpool, 1904, p.3. 45. Col eman , 1973, p.94. 46. Lord Stanley, Fifteenth Earl of Derby. A leading philanthropist concerned with the plight of the working class, he became one of the leaders of the ConseIVative Party.

47. Co I eman , 1973, p.143. 48. "Liverpool and its parks: a plea for further provision", Porcupine, No.39, 1861, vol.2, pp. 145-146.

49. Hughes, Q. Seaport: Architecture and Townscape in Liverpool, 1964, pp.lS0-lS1. 50. Millinqton, R. House in the Park, 1957, p.61.

51. Shinmin, H. "SUnday Evening in the Park", Porcupine, 1861, vol.2, pp. 186-188 and pp.210-211. 52. "Panoramic View of Liverpool from the South West, 1847" (Ackennann), Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978. 53. "General Panoramic View of Liverpool from the Mersey, 186S", Liverpool Packet No. 2+2, 1978.

44 'l11e planning of the parks

Once Liverpool Corporation had recognized the irrportance of preserving open spaces and establishing public parks for the benefit of the town's residents, they began the task of searching for available sites. It had become clear as far back as 1833, that the town should have at least t\\U public walks. According to John Ashton Yates, the gentry had sent a petition to the Council calling for 'a place of resort for the common people' in the east of the town. It was signed by 'hundreds' of well informed persons including physicians and clergymen, and suggested using a part of the Corporation Estate near Everton. The Council had refused and that particular si te had been laid out for rrore streets. Yates, himself, believed that t~ public walks were needed in the east - one in the north-east, the other in the south-east, as the area housed so great a part of the town's population. 1 This view was shared by Charles Horsfall who pointed out that land was available in the south-east of the town, but that it ~uld be unfair to have a public walk at only this end of the town when the north-east was al so bui It-up. 2

In 1856, the people living in the east of Liverpool were given the benefit of a very limited public park. fbwever, this had come about more by accident than by design. The Council had purchased thirteen acres of land at the boundary of Edge Hill with the intention of bui lding a gaol. This site had previously been occupied by Plumbes

Hall. The Council had bought the land in 1843 for the sum of £10,000. 3 After the Hall was darolished, the site was deemed unfit for the purpose of a gaol and the land was allowed to lay waste until 1856 when the Corporation designated the area as Wavertree Park, to serve the Working 45 Class of that district. 4 The facilities did little to merit the title

'park' as it apparently remained hardly roore than a "good sized field, where scanty grass grows and water does not run". 5

By 1866, the COrporation began to take the provision of public parks ITOre seriously, and ccmnenced the search for available sites. Ideally, plots of suitable land were required in the north, south and east of the town, to enable the whole of Liverpool's population to have ready access to open spaces. The COuncil instructed the COrporation Surveyor and

Borough Engineer to draw up a I ist of si tes which they considered ~uld be suitable for develoIXJl9nt as parks. At a meeting of the COuncil's Improvement Cornnittee, held on Thursday 1st March 1866, the Report of the Surveyor and Borough Engineer on available sites6 for public parks was su1::mi tted for examination. This Report reccmnended three si tes as being ITOst sui ted to the purpose.

The first site selected by the Report was a piece of land situated to the east of Park Rd. and to the south of Upper Warwick St., an area measuring twenty acres. They estimated the cost of buying and laying out this site at £58,080. A triangular plot of land fitting this description can be seen on Benson's Plan of Liverpool c1860. 7

The second proposed si te lay on the area kn~ as ParI iament Fields. This was to the south of Upper Parliament St. and east of Prince's

Road. s The site reccmnended contained sixty-t~ acres. It was suggested that twelve acres could be used for building, allowing fifty acres to be created into parkland, at an estimated cost of £117,282, once the building land was sold.

46 The third and final site lay to the south of Ullet Lane and stretched across to Greenbank and Ot terspoo I , covering around 370 acres. They considered this land best suited to acconm:xIate "a Botanic Garden, Arboretum, Cricketing Gardens, Lakes, Shrubberies, and Lawns and providing for extensive Walks, Rides and Drives". 160 acres could be allocated for building purposes, the deduction of which would leave an estimated overall cost of £230,500.

All three of these proposed sites lay to the south of the town. It was finally decided that the third option would best meet the needs of the local comnuni ty. The land in question was owned by the Earl of Sefton and on Wednesday, 14th March 1866, the Council voted to accept the Earl's offer to sell them the 375 acres of land between Ullet Lane, Smithdown Rd. and Aigburth Rd. for the sum of £250,000. The project was to be financed by money raised under the powers of the 1865 Liverpool

Improvement Act. 9 Those living in the south of the town would thereby have access to two parks - Prince's Park (created in 1843) and this new park, to be known as Sefton Park.

This new inpetus to create parks for the people pronpted the Council to develop the Newsham Park Estate. Situated on the east side of the town, it had previously been in the hands of the Molyneux family and'I11oma.s Molyneux had built the present house on the estate at the end of the eighteenth century. Both the house and the land were purchased by the Corporation in 1846 for the sum of £70,000. 10 In 1850, the Council acquired the Yellow House Estate bringing the total acreage to 351.11 The land was divided into two, with the building of Shiel Rd.12 running in a north-south direction. In 1862, the Council developed the land to the west of Shiel Rd. into a recreation area named, appropriately, Shiel 47 ------

Park. 13 The land to the east of Shiel Rd. had lain waste for twenty years, despite the public outcry expressed so vehemently in< the

Porcupine, 14 but in the new pro-park enthusiasm, the Council designated Newsham Park as the principal recreation area for the inhabitants living in the east.

The needs of those living in the north were to be met by the creation of

Stanley Park. 15 This was to be bull t upon land purchased from the

Walton Lodge Estate, 16 which comprised eight acres, as well as the

Woodlands Estate (22 acres. 3 roods. 30 poles.)l? On the 10th October 1866, the Council agreed to buy six lots of land totalling 27 acres, from the Trustees of the late Thomas Leyland, Esq., at a cost of £1,000 per statute acre. This land was to be used for the enlargement of

Stanley Park. IS The Council made a number of similar purchases and by April 1867, a total of 130 acres had been earmarked as the site for

Liverpool's northern park. 19

Once the location of each of the prospective parks had been decided upon, and the necessary land purchases made, the Counci I had to begin planning the layout of each park. A stroll through any of the early publ ic parks reveals a lot about the Victorian idea of beauty and the picturesque. These parks all followed a similar pattern - a mixture of serpentine lakes and streams, open fields and hidden arbours, interspersed with fountains and rustic bridges.

When Liverpool Council faced the task of commissioning and selecting designs for each of their new parks, they were able to refer to at least tv.o local examples of park design which had already establ ished a popular trend - Prince's Park in Liverpool, and Birkenhead Park across

48 ,------

the River Mersey. Birkenhead Park, created in 1844,20 was one of the

country's first public parks. It was designed by Joseph Paxton who had already been comnissioned by Richard Vaughan Yates to design Prince' 5 Park in 1842.21 Prince's Park was, in fact, Paxton's first attempt at designing a park, yet it was to prove a prototype for those following. 22 In producing the plan, Paxton collaborated with James Pennethorne, who held the position of Architect to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. 23 Pax ton , himself, was tenned as. Garden Architect and

Landscape Gardener, Cha tS\\Orth. 24 The des i gn subni t ted by the t~ men,

to be seen on the Plan of the Prince's Park now in progress near Liverpool,25 was drawn up by John Robertson, the architect at ChatS\\Orth. 26 The plan shows a balance between the need for open space and the required building plots. Richard Vaughan Yates' intention was to include a number of these building plots which, once sold - being in

a desirable parkland area - ~uld largely finance his original costs in the laying out of the park.

Paxton and Pennethorne's design shows the proposed villas situated

- around the curving perimeter of the park, the interior vista remaining

unbroken. The whole layout seems to owe nruch to the ideas of capabi I i ty Brown, - the gently curving footpaths, the arrangement of the trees in

clusters, the almost serpentine lake, - although the park ~uld have its IOOre forwal elements - neat flower beds forming geometrical patterns, yet even these appear to be circular. There does not seem to be a single straight line in the whole of the park. Perhaps one of the reasons for the apparent lack of forwality is due to the fact that Paxton exploited the natural features of the landscape. The park lay within the former limits of the medieval hunting forest of Toxteth Park, and although much of the forest had been built upon and destroyed, this 49 50

I :j:

\\ I li,I :1 I I I :1 " -- -~ r--=;:'-~=------=-'"------' .-r-'-,-=--=====-=- .:-~ 'OSTa,lII • • T~A"l'~1 A.C.WILL. .... I...bc4·~ 0" ... F' E E 't""" ;;-~ ~ 0" f C" ... I,'" 50 .....

r Y "'f". C.MUu..».NO'L.~""""'" source part of the land still retained part of its earlier glory. The site had a stream running across, part of a tributary of the Mersey. Paxton used this feature, damning it to form the lake. He also re-located some of the establ ished trees, added roc>re, created rockeries and buil t small islands within the lake itself.27 The main entrance was positioned at the north-east point of the park, with paths leading off the main perimeter road and wending their way through undulating lawns. Although the park was buil t to serve those wealthy merchants occupying the surrounding villas, there was to be a central section of the park which would be open to the general public.

The whole project cost Yates the sum of £70,000. 28 Unfortunately, the sale of the surrounding building plots and the erection of the villas took longer than expected and he was unable to recoup his outlay before his death. Joseph Paxton received £100 for his advice and planning of the park in 1842. In addition, he was paid £24 for making eight

journeys to Liverpool, as well as £3 per week for fourteen weeks, making

a total payment of £166. 29

In 1843, it was decided to hold a competition to find the best designs for four of the intended blocks of perimeter villas. The designs submitted were put on display to the general public at the Lyceum

Conmi ttee Room, along wi th a rrodel of the park. Liverpool's residents were urged to go and inspect the plans by the Liverpool Mercury. 30 The

prize-winning designs were drawn up by Mr. Henry Currey of London and by

Mr. Wyatt Papworth, also of London. 31 Mr. Currey's plans were adopted for the three blocks of terraces along the Devonshire Rd. frontage, and

Mr. Papworth's formed those houses now known as Prince's Park Mansions, on the eastern edge of the park. 32 Building work began on some of the

~ villas in 1844, the earliest being erected along Croxteth Rd. and Lodge Lane.

This idea of using the sale of improved building plots to help finance the costs of laying out the parks appealed to Liverpool Corporation.

Al though they had received ParI iamentary pennission to borrow £500,000 towards the cost of building Sefton and Stanley Parks, this sum had to be repaid by the levying of a rate to provide a Sinking Fund over a period of thirty years. 33 It was hoped that the sale of building plots w::>uld decrease the burden of that debt. Hence the designs for each park were to be affected to same extent by the financial dictates of the Counci I, and all three of the proposed new parks were to have part of their acreage devoted to the building of villas.

Those living on the eastern side of Liverpool already had the advantage of Wavertree and Shiel Parks. Newsharn Estate was yet to be developed. Even before w::>rk ccmnenced on the latter, the Council sold 27 acres of the land to the London and North-Western Railways, and a further 73 acres were lost in the development of outlying properties. 34 This left an area of 157 acres. Of this remaining land, the Council decided to allocate 46 acres as building land. So, of the original area purchased by the Corporation, less than half remained to be developed as a Publ ic

Park. £6,000 was then spent on the refurbi shment of Newsham House in order to provide a suitable residence for visiting Judges and other V.LP.S.35 A Plan of 'Newsham Park 186736 shows the intended shape and rough layout of the park, which lay between Shiel Rd. on the east, across to the railway line on the west, and was bounded in the north by West Derby Rd. and by Kensington Rd. in the south. The position of the Judges' Lodgings are marked on the plan but it is primarily concerned 52 with the proposed building plots to be offered for sale. Few details are given of the park's leisure facilities other than the cricket ground, laying nearest to the railway line.

On the 19th July 1866, the Real Estate SUb-committee accepted the design put forward by Mr. Tyennan for the landscaping of Newsham Park. 37 Mr.

Tyennan was the Curator of the town t s Botanical Gardens and had already gained experience in the designing of public parks, having been responsible for the laying out of Shiel Park. 38 Tyennan's plan for Newsham Park made provision for an undulating landscape bounded by a perimeter fence. There were to be a mnnber of recreational facil i ties including a 'Curling Pond' as well as a large lake on which the sailing of model yachts was to be pennitted. 39 A long, straight boulevard, 60ft. wide, was to be constructed along with a number of pleasantly curving avenues and walks.40 The architectural features, including the park lodges and the entrance gates, were designed by Mr. E.R. Robson, U who was the Corporation Architect.

Although the Council proceeded with its developnent of Newsham Park in the east, it was the creation of Stanley Park in the north and Sefton park in the south which seemed to attract the most attention and enthusiasm on the part of both the Corporation and the publ ic. Whereas the population in the east had already benefited from the creation of

Wavertree Park, Shiel Park and now Newsham Park, and even those living in the south had same access to Prince's Park, the northern townspeople had been wi thout any open spaces for a number of years. It is easy therefore to understand the interest shown in the Stanley Park project.

The proposed si te extended from Anfield Rd. which marked the eastern

53 boundary, to Priory Rd. in the west, and stretched from Wal ton Lane down to Arkles Lane, the sou therT'llTX)s t point. The total acreage measured about 100 (which according to J.A. Picton had cost the Corporation

£115,566(2 ). The task of designing and landscaping the park was given to Mr. Edward Kerrp, an experienced landscape gardener who had assisted

Joseph Paxton in the laying out of Birkenhead Park. 43 The natural lay of the land provided Kerrp wi th every advantage. It ran downwards on a north-easterly slope, the top of which gave an excellent view across the surrounding area, although as an article on Park Projects and Progress (in The Porcupine) points out, this view " ... will, however, within a few years, be covered by the rapidly extending town of Liverpool". U

Kenp's design atterrpted to create some variation in the landscape and to introduce the illusion of distance by means of undulating ground rising amongst winding paths and circling walks, as well as plantations of trees and shrubs. In the north-east corner of the park, there was to be a large lake, irregularly shaped, and covering seven acres. This lake was crossed and encircled by IOOre paths. There were a few architectural features planned - a lodge, a boathouse, pavilions, iron bridges and a band-stand. 45 The responsibility for the design of these fashionable Victorian park ornaments was given to E.R. Robson, the Town Architect. Neo-gothic bui ldings were very much in vogue and the gothic style was particularly prevalent in the architectural designs for Liverpool's early parks. Amongst Robson's plans were sketches for a wooden pavilion with gothic tracery windows, and a bandstand with an octagonal slate roof and iron columns with tracery \o.Urk.46 It is likely that he was also involved in the planning of the sandstone retaining wall, terraces and esplanades which faced Anfield Rd. and which also contained gothic elements. The basic design for Stanley Park as set out by Mr. Kerrp was

54 accepted by the Town Council on 12th June 1867. 47

Of all the sites acquired by the Corporation for the purpose of building public parks, that of the projected Sefton Park was the largest, measuring 387 acres. Laying at the foot of Mossley Hill, it was intended as the main recreation area for those living in the south of the town. The site was still pleasantly rural and relatively undeveloped, having a few fanns sti 11 in existence. It was fonnerly a part of the royal hunting park (as Prince's Park had been),' and t\o.U streams joined in the south-western corner of the si te to fom what was known in medieval times as 'Oskelesbrook' and later renamed the Jordan, 48 Which flowed down to join the Mersey at Otterspool.49 The prospect of having the land preserved from the developers was welcomed

by many. J.A.P. MacBride wrote at a time When the park was not yet .full y under way. He bell eved that it was ... a matter of congratulations to every denizen of Liverpool and its neighbourhood, that so con siderable and beautiful a portion of this fine estate, has been secured to the town forever, as a park for the people. With the exception perhaps of the neighbourhood of the Queen's Park, Edinburgh, as regards its natural features and capabil it ies, we have not the equal in Bri tain. Hyde Park and Regent's Park for romantic beauty are not to be named with it. 50

On 4th July 1866, the Council appointed Mr. Newlands the Borough

Surveyor to survey the land set aside for development as a park. 51 By 3rd October 1866, they had decided. to hold a comPetition for the design of Sefton Park, with a premium of 300 guineas for the winner and a second prize of 150 guineas. 52 This corrpetition was open to 'landscape gardeners and others'.53 Each of the entries had to satisfy certain conditions laid down by the Council. They stipulated that all plans must be of a set scale (l":176ft.) with sections, specifications, 55 explanatory report and an estimate of the costs involved. All plans

Imlst be sulIni tted by 1st February 1867, when they \o,Ould become Corporation property.54 The Council also made a munber of suggestions. They recornnended the inclusion of a 75ft. wide straight or curved road crossing the length of the park; an area of about 160 acres on the perimeter to be given over to building villas; some expanse of ornamental water suitable for boating and aquatic sports; a cricket and review ground; a 12-20 acre site for botanical gardens, as well as a

section reserved for the use of the villa residents. 55

The competition attracted a large number of entrants - 29 in al1 56 - and not all were local men. Four designers came from London, some from Yorkshire and the Midlands, and even from as far afield as Scotland. There were nine conpetitors from Liverpool - Messrs. Wortly, Hornblower (with Andre of Paris), Henderson and. Walker, Mercer, Jahns (t\o,O

designs), Tyerman, Hall and Middleton. 57 The plans were examined and criticized by H. Shimmin in the Porcupine. In his article on Sefton.

Newsham and other Public Parks 5 8 dated 27th April 1867, he complained that many of the plans had allocated too Imlch land for building upon and that such a tendency was reprehensible for a park where the intention was to provide breathing space for the public " ... especially [inl such a

town as Liverpool, whi ch is so dense I y buil t as to occupy an unenv iabl e notoriety for its overcrO\>.ding and high death rate". He infonned his readers that some conmitted the opposi te fault of being too "bald" and uncul tivated and some contained "costly and gigantic structures". The costs and estimates submitted by the entrants varied greatly, from as little as £13,000 to as Imlch as £158,835. The Corporation was aided in

the task of selecting a winning design by a Mr. Nesfield of London. 59 The award of 300 guineas was finally presented to the joint entrants 56 Messrs. Hornblower and Andre, the second prize being given to a Mr. Edward Milner, landscape gardener of Sydenham in London. 60

Mr. Lewis Hornblower was described by H. Shinmin as "Liverpool's rising archi tect" . 6 1 He had been i nvo I ved in both Bi rkenhead and Pr i nee's Parks where he had designed same of the gates, bridges and lodges,62 taking over from John Robertson, Paxton's Chief Architect at Birkenhead. 63 Hornblower's partner on the Sefton Park project, Edouard Andre, was Gardener-in-Chief to the Ci ty of Paris and the French influence is evident in the landscape features of the winning design. Margaret Jackson in her chapter entitled The Competition draws a parallel between Sefton Park and the smaller French parks: "In the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Bouloqne, for exanple, the same paths and drives are evident, based on circles, ellipses and their tangents" .64 The plan put forward by Hornblower and Andre certainly does seem to be based on a series of circular and semi-circular shapes criss-crossed by interlinking paths which converge then part again at a tangent. These can be seen on a lithograph of Messrs. Hornblower and Andre's Prize Plan for the Sefton Park65 which was issued with copies of the Liverpool Journal on Saturday, 4th May 1867.

The Detailed Specifications of Messrs. Andre and Hornblower for Sefton Park66 give a good description of the park facilities envisaged by the t\\O designers. The entire area was to be enclosed within a boundary fence of neat iron railings mounted on stone plinths. Same of the rail ings \\Ould be of wrought iron, same of cast iron. Within the park itself, those gardens reserved for the local residents, and also the botanical gardens, were to be similarly enclosed, and the carriage drives and plantations were protected by strong iron hurdles. The

57 58 REFERENCE.

.- . MESSRS; Ho '~WWER~~Nri: ~~TIg3]>~ .' .-::-\~~tt1P,1" -.~ . . .'~:., ;'~.. ..'~'-=---:

fRESENTED WI~I-:I ,THE J.IVERPOPl-1

SCALE Or' n:ET. designers had made use of the natural features present in the site. The

'River Jordan' was going to be damned to form a large lake suitable for boating and other desirable aquatic activities. In fact, there was a great emphasis on the use of water, with streams branching off in various directions and manipulated to form cascades, and water running the entire length of the park from north to south.

There were to be a selection of archi tectural features dispersed around the park, such as bridges, shelters, and pavi I ions, as well as small lodges at each of the main entrances. Copyi ng the London exanpl e, they planned to have a 'Rotten Row' around the western perimeter of the park,

25ft. wide and 1,600 yards long. The Grand Exterior Boulevard was to consist of a 10ft. wide footpath alongside a 40ft. wide carriage way, which \>wOuld be intersected by three approach roads to provide access to the vi llas surrounding the park. They proposed to have no trees along this boulevard " ..• thus preserving the character and naked grandeur exhibi ted in the Avenue of the Enl>ress, in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris". Obviously, Andre's influence was strong here.

The partners said that they were aiming for grandeur and had confined the whole park within a circular road with gentle curves " ... uniting the whole in a pure and harmonious outline, and offering an extended walk where the eye might catch all the prinCipal views of the interior landscape". 6 7 They had strived to make each section of the park a part of the whole, yet, at the same time, giving each a specific character of its own.

The original plan of Hornblower and Andre included a mass of ornamental and functional buildings - a windmill, an apiary, avaries, sports 59 ------,

pavi lions, rustic shelters, stmmer houses, an aquarium, hot houses, a swan hut, a sheep pen, arbours, restaurants, kiosks, even a deer house! However, in their specifications, they informed the Council that not all these ornamental devices would be carried out. In fact, very few of these park ornaments were to be built, as the financial constraints of the Council's budget soon became apparent.

By 1867, the publ ic park proqranme was well under way in Liverpool. In the article on Stanley Park on the 18th April 1868, the Porcupine quotes the town's Health Corrmittee's earlier suggestion "to construct a series of public parks, in such relation to each other as will secure a central line of open space, to act as a kind of lungs in what, it requires no gift to foretell, will in a few years be the heart of the town of

Liverpool". 68 By the time the article in the Porcupine was written, the Corporation had indeed secured the 'central line of open space'. The sites obtained for the formation of the first public parks, had led to a semi-circle of open tracts of land curving around the town from Sefton Park in the south, through Prince's Park, round to Waver tree Park and Newsham and Shiel Parks in the east, on to Stanley Park in the north.

However much Liverpool continued to qrCM and spread in the future, those living within the town's inner areas would no longer be denied the opportunity to relax, stroll, play games and breath relatively unpolluted air within the vicinity of their own homes.

60 1. "Report of the Select comnittee on Public Walks", B.P.P., 1833, vo1.XV, p.378.

2. Ibid., p.381.

3. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.439.

4. Hughes, 1964, pp.150-151.

5. "Liverpool and its parks: a plea for further provision", Porcupine, No.39, 1861, vol.2, p.145.

6. "Public Parks: Report of the Surveyor and Borough Engineer on Available Sites", L.C.P., 1865/66, pp. 753-755.

7. "1860/62 Benson's Plan of Liverpool", Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978.

8. Picton, 1903, vol.2, pp.484-485.

9. L.C.P., 1865/66, p.177.

10. Millington, 1957, p.61.

11. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.430.

12. Shiel Road was named after Richard Shiel who was the first Irish Alderman to sit in the Civic Chamber.

13. Milllngton, 1957, p.61.

14. "Liverpool and its parks: a plea for further provision", Porcupine, No.39, 1861, vo1.2, p.146.

15. Thi s northern park was named in honour of the Far I of Derby whose family name was Stanley.

16. Hughes, 1964, p.151.

17. Picton, 1903, vo1.2, p.412.

18. L.C.P., 1865/66, p.347.

19. Shirnnin, H. "Sefton, Newsham and other Publ ic Parks", Porcupine, 1867/68, vol.9, pp.36-37.

20. Patrrore, "OUtdoor Recreation", 1970, p.61.

21. Ibid.

22. Chadwick, G.F. Works of Sir Joseph Paxton, 1961, p.46.

23. Liverpool Mercury, 9th December 1842.

61 24. "Plan of the Prince's Park now in progress, near Liverpool", Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978.

25. Ibid.

26. Chadwick, 1961, p.47.

27. Spiegl, F. "Descriptive notes", Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978.

28. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.478.

29. Chadwick, 1961, p.47.

30. Liverpool Mercury, 30th June 1843.

31. Liverpool Mercury, 4th August 1843.

32. Chadwick, 1961, pp.47-48.

33. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.412.

34. Ibid., p.430.

35. Ibid.

36. L.R.O., Plan of Newsham Park belonging to the Corporation of Liverpool, shewing building sites for sale, 1867.

37. "Report of the Town Clerk as to the cost of Newsham Park", L.C.P., 1868/69, p.44.

38. L.C.P., 1865/66, p.127.

39. "Report of the Town Clerk as to the cost of Newsham Park" , L.C.P., 1868/69, p.45.

40. Hope, E.W. Public Health Congress Handbook, 1903, p.32.

41. "Report of the Town Clerk as to the cost of Newsham Park", L.C.P., 1868/69, p.44.

42. Plcton, 1903, vol. 2, p. 412.

43. Ibid.

44. "Park Projects and Progress", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, p.30.

45. Liverpool Heritage Bureau. Buildings of Liverpool, 1978, p.l08.

46. Ibid.

47. EverydaY History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

48. This River Jordan is thought to have been named thus in derision of purl tan settlers at the nearby Jericho Fann.

62 49. Boul t, J. "Fonner and Recent Topography of Toxteth Park", A.A.S. Proceedings, 1867/68, pp. 18-34.

50. MacBride, "Toxteth Park, the site of Sefton Park and the SUrrounding District", A.A.S. Proceedings, 1866/67, pp. 122-136.

51. L.C.P., 1865/66, pp.277.

52. Ibid., p.348.

53. L.C.P., 1867/68, p.611.

54. Ibid.

55. Ibid., p.612.

56. Jackson, M. "The Coopet it ion" , In: Sefton Park Civic Society. Sefton Park, 1984, p.49.

57. Shirrmin, H. "Sefton, Newsham and other Public Parks", Porcupine, 1867/68, vol.9, pp.36-37.

58. Ibid.

59. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

60. Ibid.

61. Shirrmin, H. "Parks Again", Porcupine, 1867/68, vol.9, p.47.

62. Jackson, "The Competition", 1984, p.49.

63. canpbell, K. "Architecture of the Area", In: Sefton Park Civic Society. Sefton Park, 1984, p.63.

64. Jackson, "The CorIpetition", 1984, p.49.

65. Plan of the Proposed Sefton Park. Lithograph of Messrs. Hornblower and Andre's Prize Plan, May 1867.

66. "Detailed Specifications of Messrs. Andre and Hornblower for Sefton Park", L.C.P., 1867168, pp.607-634.

67. Ibid., p.617.

68. "Stanley Park", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, p.30.

63 The creation of the parks

The basic construction of Liverpool's early public parks continued until 1872. It was a long, arduous process involving the shifting of tons of topsoi I, slabs. of rock, and even whole trees, in order to IOOuld each individual landscape into the desired blend of beauty and practicality. Just as Paxton's designs at Birkenhead and Prince's Parks had provided the Town Council with models on which to base their plans for the new parks, so too they were able to build upon the experience gained in landscapi ng such large areas.

When work had commenced on the construction of Prince's Park in 1842, it became a source of great interest anongst the local population. Pax ton had appointed Edward Milner (later to win second prize in the Sefton

Park competition) to supervise the landscape work in the park. 1 This work included the formation of artificial hills to provide the future users with a 'rolling landscape'. The stream was damned to fom a large, ornamental lake, the basin of which was constructed in a basic S- shape, with a small island in the south-western corner. Paxton's plan made great use of carefully arranged cllll1Ps of trees. Fach had to be positioned according to the plan and so the construction work involved the IOOvement and re-planting of mature, established trees around the site. Thi s was a source of comment in the town and the progress of the operation was reported on in the Liverpool Mercury. The full-grown trees were being transplanted to fom avenues, and the Mercury went into great detail, describing Sir Henry Steuart's plan for the removal of large trees. z

64 ------

As the park began to take shape, the enthusiasm for the project continued and the Mercury reported ... beautiful sites for villas ... surrounded by noble scenery, and free from nuisances; and yet, within a short distance of the town, to all the inhabi tants of which it wi 11, when COl1Pleted, afford delightful walks and drives, truly welcome as a retreat from the bustle of business and the din and the dust of the streets. 3 The construction of the park itself, seems to have been COl1Pleted fairly quickly, the surrounding villas taking the longest to complete. Being a privately funded concern, the decisions as to contractors and suchlike \ would lay with Richard Vauqhan Yates and Paxton or his deputies. Consequently, there would have been little cause for delay over the issuing of contracts. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case with the public parks, where the tenders for every contract had to be examined, debated and approved by the Counci 1, which took time. This was one of the reasons for the length of time it took to create the long-awaited public parks.

The lull which occurred following the acquisi tion of the necessary land

was a source of concern to those who had canpaiqned so long for parks

for the people. H. Shimnin, writing in the Porcupine was wary of the

delays, remembering the Council's past record. He pointed out that " .. half the I ifetime of a generation has passed away since Newsham

Estate was purchased and promised for a 'People's Park''', 4 and he hoped that the Council's current trend for public parks would last longer than last time. He was sceptical about their enthusiasm when faced with actually paying for the schemes to be carried out, stating " ... the

Corporate mind is unhappi ly I iable to paroxysms of stinginess". 5

Despite the concern voiced by Shimnin, work was, in fact, under way at

65 Newsham Park. Mr. Tyerman had comnenced the general landscaping of the site and the Council had accepted the tender of Messrs. N.B. Fogg and Co. to carry out contractual work on the roads and drains for the stun of

£23,309-0s-10d6 • The Report of the Town Clerk as to the cost of Newsham Park' gave an update of the situation in 1868. He estimated that the construction work at Newsham Park, so far, had cost the Council £6,403- 15s-Sd. This total included a sum of £25-14s-8d paid to a Thomas Little for his landscaping work and various payments to Messrs. Fogg and Co., . for construct i ng the wall i ng around the CUr ling Pond and the lower pond, carting stone for the pitching of footpaths, work on the footbridge over the lake and fixing and painting hurdles. The finn of Peake and Sons were paid £1,041-3s-Sd for supplying the hurdles. The Town Clerk put the current total spent on Newsham Park at £47,849-7s-2d. Mr. Tyerman submitted an estimate gauging the final cost of the park at £51,899-7s- 2d. This figure allowed for a stun of £3,500 to be spent on the construction of the lodges, entrance gates and fencing.

While work was being carried out at Newsham, the planning of Liverpool's southern park was well under way. The Counci I had decided to purchase 12 acres of land from Mr. Livingston, Esq., costing £12,000, in order provide a good approach to Sefton Park from Aigburth Rd. and Lark Lane. 8 This brought the total acreage to almost 400. This additional purchase, combined with the much publiCised competition for the best design of Sefton Park, led to mounting concern over Council bias towards the town's southern residents. It was Shimmin who voiced the criticisms of the Corporation's actions, pin-pointing one of the possible causes -

It •• the neglect of the north end may be traced to the fact that only five of the sixty-four members of the Council reside to the north of Mr.

lt 9 Robinson's asstuned central line, London Rd • £500,000 had been 66 ------~- ~------,

allocated for the construction of Sefton and Stanley Parks of which approximately £350,000 had already been spent on Sefton, compared to

£180,000 on Stanley Park. 10 Hornblower and Andre's plans were described as providing a "luxurious pleasure ground" for the "currant-jelly lot" who dwelt in the southern districts of Aigburth and Grassendale,11 and Shimmin stated that - ... an impression gains ground, in the Everton and Kirkdale districts, that the north-end park will be shaped out of the 'clippings' left over from the Rotten Row and Sefton Park luxury for the south enders. 12

By 12th June 1867, the Corporat ion had decided to adopt Mr. Kenp' s

design for Stanley Park at the estimated cost of £40,000 13 and tenders were accepted for \t.Urk on the park. Mr. samuel Ccmpbell was awarded the contract for all the architectural \t.Urk at a sum of £13,456,14 and Mr. W.H. Peake was to provide iron railings for the park at a cost of

£3,646. 15 In all, a total of £23, 141-16s-10d was spent on earthworks, the planting of trees and shrubberies, and erecting gates and railings around Stanley Park, the architectural \t.Urk amounting to £14,200. £1,489-12s-0d was spent on 'sundries'.16

As Stanley Park began to take shape, the Porcupine publ ished regular bulletins as to its progress. On 18th April 1868, 'Mr. Porcupine' expressed his concern over the landscaping \t.Urk. He disl iked the small hillocks skirting the most northerly section of the park, complaining that they were too artificial and that they broke up the wide sweep of the land. Their creation was an unecessary expense. He also considered that the park had, perhaps, a few too many curved walks and was tending

to be too ornamental. 17 On 13th June 1868, in an article entitled The Stanley Park Muddle, 18 concern over the costs involved continued, and

67 the hillocks on the lower side of the park came under attack again,

being described as " ... ronstrous congeries of overgrown rolehills". The expense of their creation was loudly berroaned and it was fel t that their presence spoilt the park. Possibly because of such complaints, the Council banned the public frQn the site until the construction work was completed, although the official reason given for the ban was that it

would prevent the t~rkmen being hindered by members of the publ ic. 19

Meanwnile, work was well under way at Sefton Park. On 4th December 1867

the Corporation appointed Mr. William Pearceas the Clerk of Works at

Sefton Park at an annual salary of £300. 20 Various tenders were accepted for the construction work around the park. Monsieur combaz, Rock Builder of Paris, was comnissioned to create the caves and stone work required for the ornamental cascades at a cost of £2,000. 21 In the

following year, the Council approved the tender of Mr. Samuel campbell for the execution of work on the sub-soil as well as draining, ploughing, preparing and sowing grass seeds on the Review Ground for the

sum of £345. 22 Mr. campbell was also to be responsible for the excavation and building of sewers and other works at a cost of

£72,345. 23

As work coomenced on the site, the roads, drives and paths were the

first features to be marked out. Though Mr. campbell had been awarded the contract to construct the roads through the park, the Council received complaints from those contractors who had been unsuccessful. They made allegations of inaccuracies and omissions in Messrs. Andre and Hornblower's specifications. The Council called in Messrs. Mills and Fletcher to make an independent investigation, who declared the specifications to be correct.24 68 The landscaping of the site seems to have been a IIDntnnental process. On 4th December 1867, the Council passed a IIDtion that around 1,000 men should be employed at Sefton Park during the coming winter at "wages not exceeding 2s a day".25 By 24th March 1868, 9,000 cubic yards of turf had been cut and stacked; 5,900 cubic yards of marl 26 had been dug out and mixed with 4,424 cubic yards of night soil, then spread over 35,000 cubic yards of land Which formed about 5.5 acres of plantations. 6,900 cubic yards of sand had been removed from the plantation sites. 27

A great deal of care had gone into the design and development of these plantations. The specifications had pointed out that Edouard Andre had a lot of experience of this type of work at the Butte de Chaumont in Paris, and the Council were told that - By skillful distribution of trees in isolated groups, and by gradation of colour, we can ob tain an illusionary distance in the landscape, as is done for example in the wings of a theatre. 28 In the Report of Andre and Hornblower showing views for the composi tion of the various plantations, 29 it was pointed out that the site of Sefton Park was bordered by oaks, elms, beeches and sycaIIDres, and that Mossley Hill rising beyond the park was covered with trees and created a horizon of foliage. They believed it best to use the same species of tree on that side of the park in order to "hanoonize wi th the external vegetable framing". Dark coloured foliage should also be placed at the edge of the site Whereas those with lighter coloured leaves, such as acacia poplars, willows and eleganus augustifolia should be planted in central areas so that the shades would decrease towards the centre of the park. Above all, they insisted that "plantations must be a framing to the vistas, and they must not obstruct any of them". Mature trees were intermingled with saplings to give depth to the clustered groups, the

69 adult trees often being lifted from other areas of the park, and transplanted. Such plantations were used to form screens around the edge of the site and were also positioned about the various artificial roc~rks.30

The creat ion of the earthworks had been carefully planned. The park had a central depression running through the site and this 'valley' contained the stream which eventually fonned the lake. The surrounding ground rose up in gentle, natural-looking cmves. The designers stressed that - ... the natural lines must never be defaced by giant molehills, covered with plantations, which must tend to destroy the most beautiful features of a hanronious landscape. 31

As the construct ion ~rk progressed, it soon became apparent that the costs were beginning to mount up and complaints over unnecessary expenses began to be vei ced. In an article entitled Municipal Extravagance32 the Porcupine claimed that from the original council estimate of £395,000, the cost of creating Sefton Park had escalated to

£567,203 and ways in which lOOney could be saved were I isted. These involved using cheaper, al ternative methods of construction for the park roads and less ornamentation. SUch calls for limiting the expenditure on public parks caught the attention of the Town Councillors, particularly as elections were imninent, and the prospective candidates began to show great concern over the excessive stnnS being spent. 33

At a meeting held on 30th December 1868, the Council's Improvement

Conmi ttee I istened to a Report on further \>.Orks sti 11 to be executed (at Sefton Park).34 This Report observed that £113,267 had been spent on land for Stanley Park and £263,176 for the Sefton Park site. Only 70 £123,557 remained for the construction wOrk of which it was estimated £42,792 would be used on Stanley Park. This left the sum of £80,765 available for the creation of Sefton Park. Andre and Hornblower's original, estimate for the cost of carrying out their design had been £85,000 and in a series of successive estimates the costs had soared dramatically. The council were already comnitted to spend £75, 158-4s-0d on contractual work and the Report stated that £4,465-5s-8d had been paid for what it tenned 'prel iminary and contingent expenses' which included the cost of the surveys, premiums, repairs to farm buildings, Pearce's wages and sundry incidental expenses. Var ious other payments including Hornblower and Andre's oammission, had brought the total spent so far to £94, 127-4s-9d. The Report bel ieved that the remaining work - more tree planting, earthworks, the building of the bridges, gateways and lodges would cost the Council a further £44,362-5s-3d. The result of this alarming Report was a revision of the proposed expendi ture and a programne of cutbacks effecting a reduction in the scale of ornamentation and the facilities provided in Sefton Park.

After all the concern over the initial purse-pinching attitude of the Council, and, later on, their extravagance, the public were still enthusiastic about the public parks and the opening of each caused great exci tement. Newsham provided the basic requirements of a park - open spaces, winding paths, trees and shrubberies, and a lake. The latter had drawn some cri ticism. It was considered that the slopes surrounding the lake were too steep to provide access to the water, and would be hazardous in wintery oondi tions, when - ... unless their pedal organs are furnished with pneumatic apparatus akin to those which enable flies to walk on glass, or are supplied with lad ders for ascent and descent, their performances must indeed be a pursuit of pleasure under diff iculties. 35 71 ------~~------

In an article entitled Barmecide Parks, 36 in the Porcupine, the masonry surrounding the lake was described as appearing to have been constructed by an amateur and the ornamental gardens were referred to as "nothing rrore or less than bi ts of a nurserynan' s shrubbery". Newsham Park was eventually to gain a reputation as a park where the general public were

not encouraged. According to Q. Hughes in his book Seaport,37 Newsham,

surrounded by its iron railings, was a park where the public were only allowed on sufferance, the gates closing one hour after sunset and reopening at "a respectable hour ... when the streets were aired".

Wavertree Park had remained relatively undeveloped and was criticised as

being "always dusty and dirty in hot weather, sloppy and danp at other times. The water is the reverse of ornamental, and so far, it has served little purpose but as a resort for 'roughs' tired of the excitements of the slum". Both Newsham and Waver tree Parks had this problem with 'roughs' which was ascribed to the fact that there were too few park keepers and superintendents. This was also the cause of an additional and rather curious problem - that of ranting religious

fanatics who pestered the public. The Porcupine conplained that "It was the height of folly to spend a million odd on parks for the people and not to take measures to induce the people to resort to thern".38

Stanley Park opened to the public on saturday 14th May 1870, in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Liverpool's own Mayor and members of the Corporation. 39 The grand opening was held on a fine day and was attended by thousands of people, and the occasion was marked by another article in the Porcupine. The wri ter was irrpressed by the park lake "branching out so variedly as to convey the idea of distance and extent so marvellous to look upon". The ornamental lake and gardens

72 covered 30 acres of the park, providing a pleasant area to stroll in, as did the esplanade with its t\>.O terraces both giving "delightful promenades". 40 The section of the parkland running across to Arkles Lane was described as being a "magnificent view" and the skills of Kenp's landscaping technique were surely conplemented when the same article stated that the park seemed to stretch for mi les and was "vast in size, rich in \o..OCXled embell ishment and picturesque to a high degree". 41 It sUIl'lTlarised that Stanley Park was a valuable acquisi tion for those living the north of the town. However, according to J.A. Picton, conplaints were made by some that the ornamental gardens were too ornate and that too nruch m:mey had been spent unnecessarily on the elaborate archi tectural features. From the same quarters came suggestions that simple turf, trees and paths \>.Ould have given the \>.Orking classes more freedom and pleasure. Picton maintained that Liverpool's residents should learn "to appreciate the beauty in nature and art, and to take pride and pleasure in its preservation". 42

Despi te the cri ticisms, Stanley Park proved to be popular, and became the site for organi zed events. on Monday 6th June 1868, the Far I of Derby opened a Fancy Fair in the park which lasted four days during which the sun shone brilliantly. The event included a bazaar, flower show, sack races, a "greased pole with its unattainable leg of nrutton", donkey races, blindman's buff and 'kiss-in-the-ring'. Balloons were released and each evening ended with a firew::>rk display.43 The proceeds fram this event were donated towards the building of the New Stanley

Hospital. Later that year, the park became more accessible to those living further afield due to the opening of a new omnibus tramway route.

Sefton Park was finally opened on Monday 20th May 1872 by H.R.H. Prince 73 ,------

Arthur, Duke of COnnaught. 44 He proceeded from the Town Hall in a

procession comprising of 77 carriages45 until he reached Sefton Park where a crO\>.d of 5,000 had congregated in and around a grandstand which

had been erected in front of the park gates. 46 The Prince opened the park and a bazaar, revisi ting the park again the following day when he opened a flower show.47 The largest of all the parks, Sefton Park was the subject of never-ending criticisms bemoaning the costs incurred in its creation and maintenance. Picton was amongst the critics, complaining of vast sums of money spent - ... in effacing the natural features of the ground and creating a minor Bois de Boulogne with its rockwork cascades, temples, etc. 48

The completion of the first programme' of public park building in Liverpool left many who had campaigned for parks for the people still voicing their complaints. The major criticism was that the expense had

been too high and unevenly distributed. An article enti tIed Parks for

the Plutocrats in the Liverpool ReviewH stated "They [the parks] are lungs, no doubt, ... but is there any necessity for their being such very expensive lungs". It argued against the fonnal paths and walks, and the lawns being reserved for upper-class sports - cricket, archery, tennis and suchlike, citing Prince's Park as the main offender along with Sefton Park to a lesser degree. Corrplaints about costs, however, always quoted Sefton Park as the greater evil, due to its having cost more than the other parks put together. The same article claimed that it needed £6,000 p.a. for maintenance alone, for which sum the town received a "rich man's pleasure ground". Concern over the policing of parks led to

an article in the Liverpool Citizen50 in which Sefton Park at night was

described as "a hot-~ of iniquity instead of a healthy breathing space

for the COIlITlUni ty" and "evi 1 deeds occur almost under the windows of our

74 snobocracy". Calls arose for the park to be locked at night.

So, al though the town now had its long-awai ted public parks, the Council were confronted with complaints of overspending; conflicting arguments that the parks were too bare to too ornate; that they catered for the wrong soc i al groups i and that they encouraged unsavoury 'goi ngs on' after dark. The Council encountered problems in how best to enhance the parks without adding to the present expenses. Such were the tasks facing the Corporation as they headed towards the new century.

75 1. Chadwick, 1961, p.47.

2. Liverpool Mercury, 24th March 1843.

3. Liverpool Mercury, 23rd December 1842.

4. "Sefton, Newsham and other parks", Porcupine, 1867/68, vol. 9, pp.36-37.

5. Ibid.

6. L.C.P., 1865/66, p.343.

7. L.C.P., 1868/69, pp.43-48.

8. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

9. Shinmin, H. "Parks Again", Porcupine, 1867168, vol.9. p.47.

10. "StanleyPark", Porcupine, 1867/68, vol.9, p.73.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

14. L.C.P., 1867/68, p.29.

15. Ibid., p.209.

16. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.412.

17. "Stanley Park", Porcupine, 1868, vo1.10, p.30.

18. "Stanley Park Muddle", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, p.110.

19. "Stanley Park and its uses", Porcupine, 1868, vo1.10, pp. 38-39.

20. L.C.P., 1867/68, p.29.

2!. Ibid.

22. Ibid., p.159.

23. Ibid., p.56.

24. "Sefton Park", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, pp.68-69.

25. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

26. Mar I is a rich calcareous earth which can be used as a fert i1 i zer . 27. "Sefton Park", Porcupine, 1868, vo1.10, pp.68-69.

76 28. "Sefton Park: Specifications of Andre and Hornblower", L.C.P., 1867168, p.621.

29. "Report of Andre and Hornblower showing views for the composition of the various plantations", L.C.P., 1867/68, pp. 640-641.

30. "Sefton Park", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, pp.68-69.

31. "Report of Andre and Hornblower showing views", etc., L.C.P., 1867/68, p.643.

32. "Municipal Extravagance", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, pp. 128-129.

33. "Council Economists", Porcupine, 1868, vol.l0, p.276.

34. "Report on further \o.Orks to be executed", L.C.P.,1868/69, pp.617-627.

35. "Newsham Park", Porcupine, 1868, vo1.10, pp. 18-19.

36. "Barmecide Parks", Porcupine, 1869, vol. 11, pp.141-142.

37. Hughes, 1964, p.151.

38. "Barmecide Parks", Porcupine, 1869, vol.11, pp.141-142.

39. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.413.

40. "~ning of Stanley Park", Porcupine, 1870, vol.12, p.76.

41. Ibid, p.77.

42. Picton, 1903, vol.2, pp.412-413.

43. Ibid., p.413.

44. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.!.

45. Millington, 1957, p.73.

46. Jackson, "'Ihe Conpetition", 1984, p.57.

47. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.1.

48. Picton, 1903, vol.2, p.480.

49. Liverpool Review, 29th May 1886.

50. Liverpool Citizen, 11th July 1888.

77 0U\P'.l'm FIVE

The develoanent of the public parks

The opening of Sefton Park in 1872 had marked the end of the first phase of public park building in Liverpool. The numerous complaints over the costs involved, particularly at Sefton Park, had led to the Corporation cutting back on its expenditure for the completion of the park projects. This had caused the abandonment of plans for Sefton Park's botanical gardens and a reduction in the ornamentation. The architectural features were limited to the erection of the entrance lodges, gate piers, an iron road-bridge, boathouses and pavilions. Although the Council were unwilling to pay for any further embellishments, there were members of the local COIlIllUni ty who were prepared to furnish the parks at their own expense, for the benefit of the town.

Henry Yates Thompson, the grand-nephew of the founder of Prince's Park, presented both Sefton and Stanley Parks with glass conservatories. Each was designed by the Glasgow firm of Mackenzie and Moncur. 1 The Stanley Park conservatory is a rectangular, pavilion-like structure of cast-iron and glass, with light gothic decoration. Presented in 1899, it is sited on an upward sweep of land, its position giving visitors a wonderful view across the park and the surrounding area. The Palm House in Sefton Park is octagonal in shape with four entrances under arched glass canopies. The steel and glass construction is 100 feet wide and rises up to form a huge three-tiered glass dame, the ceiling of which is 70

feet above the ground. 2 A spiral staircase winds its way upwards to reach a ballustraded ironwork platform which runs around the inside edge of the central dame. The Palm House is built upon a stone base with steps leading up to each of the four entrances, which consist of a set 78 of double doors and, at the top of the steps, a pair of wrought iron gates decorated wi th art nouveau IOOtifs. Around the outside of the building there originally stood eight bronze and marble statues of men who had achieved fame in the fields of nature or exploration - Linnaeus,

Mercator, captain Cook, Andre Le Notre, Parkinson, Prince Henry the Navigator, Columbus and Charles Darwin. Every statue bore brief details of each faIOOus individual and that of Columbus ended with the telling phrase "The discoverer of America was the maker of Liverpool". The 19th

Century interior of the Palm House also owed much to the generosity of local families. Amongst the collection of exotic plants was a statue of Flora, the Greek Spirit of Nature, donated by the Muspratt family.3 The Palm House is positioned, like the Stanley Park conservatory, on top of high ground and its elegant steel and glass curves can be seen rising above the surrounding foliage from allOOst every other point in the park. It had cost Henry Yates Thompson £12,000 for the building and its collection of exotic plants, and it was fonnally opened by Aldennan Joseph Ball, Chainnan of the Parks, Gardens and Inprovement Comni ttee on the 5th October 1896. 4

Sefton Park had absorbed IOOSt of the lOOney that the Corporation had allocated for the creation of the parks and it was already the IOOSt ornamental of the town's open spaces. Despite this, Sefton Park continued to attract the attention of local benefactors. Amongst this number was Mr. George Audley. It is possible that he had visited London and had been impressed by the statue of Peter Pan which had been erected in Kensington Gardens. He realized the appeal that such a statue held for children and decided to commission a copy of the statue, which had been sculpted by Sir George Frampton, R.A., and to present it as a gift to the children of Liverpool. The actual presentation of the statue on

79 the 16th June 1928, took the form of a pageant which was written by P.F. Corkhill, with music selected and orchestrated by captain Bicks, Bandrraster of the Liverpool Pol ice Band. This Pageant of Peter Pan was performed by the pupils of Miss C.E. Holmes of Abbotsbury in nearby BI unde 11 sands. The Lord Mayor, Miss Margaret Bevan, J.P., played the part of "Lady of the Bright Eyes" and Mr. George Audley, himself, appeared as the "Fairies' Godfather". The play was written in imitation of J.M. Barrie's style and was based upon the story of the presentation of the statue, as well as a Wendy House and a model of the "Jolly Roger". This latter had been designed, constructed and presented by the

CUnard Steamship Company. 5 These gifts provided Sefton Park with a much valued and badly needed play area for children. The Corporation had cause to thank Mr. Audley once again in 1932 when he presented Sefton Park with a bronze replica of Sir Alfred Gilbert's statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, London. It cost Mr. Audley £15,000 and was unveiled on the 23rd July by the Lord Mayor, Alderman J.C. CroSS.6

Liverpool's ear I y parks thus con t i nued to be further ernbell i shed without any rore cost to the publ ie. The parks proved to be popular and beside their important role as "lungs" for the town's population, they provided open spaces suitable for large scale events. A glance at Gore's Annals reveals that Newsham Park was the host to the Royal Agricultural Society of England's annual show and it was also the site of the Royal

Manchester, Liverpool and North Lancashire Agricul tural Show on rore

than one occasion.'

Waver tree Park was also to have is rroment when it became the si te of the Liverpool International Exhibi tion. The buildings were constructed using the same materials that had been utilised at the Antwerp 80 Exhibition of 1885 and included a concert room which held 4,000 people.

Queen Victoria opened the Exhibition on the 11th May 1886. 8 During her visit, the Queen stayed at Newsham House, on the edge of Newsharn Park. Wavertree Park was also the site of Liverpool's Royal Jubilee Exhibition in the following year, 1887, which was opened on the 16th May. 9

These early parks strove to meet the needs of the town's population as the twentieth century progressed and gradually, as Liverpool continued to spread, rrore park!? were created, many being fonned from old estates or gardens acquired by the Corporation and adapted to suit the needs of the local comnunity. The passage of time and the iI1i2ct of the Second World War took its toll on the earliest parks. The nationwide call for metal to "build spi tfires" resulted in the rem:>val of the outer rail ings around the parks as well as the park gates themselves. During the Bli tz of May 1941, a bomb fell close to the Palm House in Sefton Park which resulted in all the glass panes being shattered. It was allowed to remain in that state until 1950. The repairs and re-glazing cost £6,163. The Council paid £1,676 with the remaining sum being supplied by the War Damage Cornnission. After the loss of many of the Corporation greenhouses during the war, the Palm House was used by the Parks and Gardens Department for raising plants to supply all the town's gardens, and so it was closed to the public for a number of years. 10 Despite the effects of the war, the parks still managed to fulfil the vital roles for which they had been created.

During the course of the twentieth century, the role of the parks has changed si i ght 1y . The or i gi nal need for the parks to provi de open spaces and fresh air within easy access of those living in cramped, unhealthy housing conditions no longer exists to the same extent. The 81 housing conditions of the town's poor gradually improved as the twentieth century wore on and many of the old slums were obliterated in

the Blitz of the Second World War. Those that survived the war were derrol ished under urban regeneration schemes, the last court dwell ings

finally being pulled down in the 1960s. 11 The new developments included modern housing estates, some with curving, tree-lined roads and both terraced and semi-detached houses with gardens, based on garden ci ty principles. Although not all of the modern estates were well planned, much of the new housing led to different demands being placed on the city's parks. NOw that more people had their own homes with gardens in which to relax, the need for ornamental floral displays and walks diminished. The parks no lonqer performed the role of "lungs". Instead, the ent>hasis shifted tCMards providing open spaces in which to take exercise and play organised sports, as an antidote to the modern desk-bound occupations.

Liverpool Council appears to have studied the requirements of the population since the initial creation of the Victorian parks. During the twentieth century, it has continued to provide parks for the people.

As the ent>hasis changed tCMards sporting activi ties, the Council proceeded to establish recreation grounds around the city.

According to the Recreation and Leisure Services Handbook, 1 Z Liverpool now has 2,400 acres of parks and open spaces, of which 982 acres fom major parks. The early Victorian parks have had to be adapted to meet the current needs of the cornnunity. Sefton Park, with the vast open spaces originally designed as sites for a Review Ground, Deer Park and Botanical Gardens, now provides the facilities for ten football pitches, thirteen tennis courts, a cricket square, two bowling greens, a fitness 82 ------

trail and an orienteering course. The picturesque lake is now a popular resort for local anglers. So too is the lake in Stanley Park, and the land described by the Porcupine as "a mst valuable acquisition to those who reside in the north end of the town",ll now provides the local community with eight tennis courts, five football pitches and a children's playground. Newsham Park also has a wide range of sporting facilities - five football pitches, three bowling greens, a fitness trail and even a baseball pitch. As with the other parks, the lake at

Newsham has become a popular venue for local fishennen. To the west, Shiel Park has undergone great changes. The mst southerly portion of the park has been used to build high-rise blocks of flats and part of the remaining parkland has been concreted over to serve as a sports pitch and skateboarding area.

Prince's Park is now owned and run by the COrporation. According to the Report of the Town Clerk and Surveyor on the correspondence between

B§nry Yates Thampson and the COrporation about the transfer of Prince's

Park to the COrporation, 14 the Far 1 of Sefton had granted Richard Vaughan Yates the land for the park for a term of seventy-five years on 1st January 1843. Following the death of the park's founder, Mrs. Anne Yates, as Trustee of the park, had conveyed the revisionary interest in the parkland to the Town COuncil for a sum of £11,000. This meant that in 1918 Prince's Park \\Ould become COrporation property. On 1st January 1918, the income from the ground rents of the villas \\Ould cease, and the park \\Ould have to be rraintained out of the General Rate. However, by 1904, the rerraining sole Trustee of the park, Mr. Henry Yates Thompson was having difficulty in maintaining the park on the income from the ground rents. In a Memorandum15 to the COuncil, he explained the problems he was facing in the upkeep of the park due to the high 83 rates incurred. In 1876, the rates had amounted to just £22, but by 1903 they had soared to £139. Because of this outlay, he was no longer able to maintain the park to the degree it deserved. He pointed out that as it continued to deteriorate, the Council would face higher repair costs when it became their responsibility in 1918. As the public were already benefiting from the use of the park, Thompson suggested that the Corporation take over the running of the site in 1904.

This reconmendation of Henry Yates Thompson was debated upon by the Council for a mnnber of years. Letters repeatedly passed between the two parties, Thompson arguing the benefits to the public and to the Council in the long term and grieving over the decline in the condition of Prince's Park. The Corporation countered his appeals with statements about concern over costs. In 1909, the Town surveyor estimated that the park cost £1,500 p.a. to maintain, with £314 to cover the expenses of the roads and footpaths. The annual income from the ground rents and grazing was only £1,156. He also reconmended certain alterations to make the park conform to the health and safety standards of the other public parks, work which would amount to £6,660. 16 Despite offers from

Thompson to It incur personally" some of the expenses involved in the transfer of the ownership of Prince's Park,17 the Council continued to argue against the proposition and the park remained in the hands of the

Trustees until 1918. As in the other Victorian public parks, attempts have been made to adapt Prince's Park to suit the present needs of the conmunityand it now provides tennis courts, bowling greens, and the lake is again a regular venue for anglers.

In 1970, Liverpool's Recreation and ~n Spaces Department in conjunction with the City Planning Department, commissioned a survey 84 of the use of open spaces in Liverpool, to investigate the levels of use, user characteristics and the catchment areas of each park. The resul ts were publ ished in a report on the Use of ~ Space in Liverpool.lS It stated that the city had seven parks over fifty acres, twenty-nine parks of between ten and fifty acres, and sixty which were less than ten acres, (parks being used as a term to include all recreational and open spaces). It found that parks were IOOst popular at the weekends and on summer evenings, and that forty-five percent of the users were daily visitors - usually dog-walkers. The Victorian campaigners and pioneers of public parks would probably have been gratified to discover that those making the greatest use of the parks came from the lower socio-economic groups. Similarly the Victorian designers would be equally pleased that the publ ic considered the overall attractiveness of the parks, along with the facilities they provided, to be of greater importance than their size. When asked which aspects of Sefton Park appealed to them IOOst, the users put the presence of the lake at the top of their list, followed by the acreage and the overall attractiveness of the park. The users of Newsham, Stanleyand Prince's Parks put a similar emphasis on the appearance of the surroundings along with the presence of a lake.

It would seem then that the park designers correctly anticipated the public's needs and that tastes have changed little in the last hundred years. However, although the layout of each park has rerrained IOOre or less unchanged, the overall appearance of some of the city's parks has al tered, particularly during the last decade. A walk around anyone of the parks tells a sorry tale of neglect. Along some of the grass verges and in and around the park lakes there is a profusion of weeds which add to the unkept appearance of the parks. The lakes themselves are bad I y 85 ,------

in need of draining and cleaning, and the summer afternoons no longer reverberate with the sounds of chugging boat engines or the splash of oars in the water. But it is in the condition of the parks' archi tectural features that the neglect is lOOSt evident. The gothic boathouses and pavilions in Sefton Park are boarded up and kept locked

due to lack of repairs, and vandalism. Some of the original pavilions no longer exist, burnt down by hooligans. The same state of affairs is apparent in Stanley Park, the iron pavilions standing like skeletons stripped of their cladding. And yet there are signs of attention. The Stanley Park Esplanades are a riot of colour with their flower beds full of blooming plants, and climbing roses spread up the arcading of the mellow, pink, sandstone screen walls. The overall effect reminds one I)f a peaceful, secluded lOOnastic garden. SUch floral displays reveal the hours of care spent in maintaining the Victorian splendour of Stanley Park's Esplanades.

Perhaps the saddest of all the early park~ is Prince's Park. The unkept paths wind their way through dark, overgrown shrubberies, with no bright floral displays to relieve the gloom. The lake, as it curves around, has dried up, and the chalet-style boathouse at its southern-lOOst tip is in a sad state ef. decay, partially clad in ugly corrugated iron sheets.

cutbacks in the Council's expenditure have led to lOOney being diverted to rore inmediate needs, and yet there are signs of iI1l>rovement. The glass conservatory in Stanley Park has been redecorated and converted into a restaurant. Renamed "The Gladstone", it is well furnished and suitably decorated with potted palms, and installed with overhead fans which create the illusion of dining in the East rather than in a public park in Liverpool in the 1980s. The Palm House in Sefton Park has been

86 closed to the public again for some time due to the bad state of repair of the building. However, it has been reported that \t.Ork will corrmence in August 1988 on restoring the structure. The Parks Chief, Mr. Ken Robinson has applied to English Heritage for a grant towards the cost of the repairs, the Palm House being a Grade 11 Listed Building, and the Parks Department has appl ied for a grant under the Urban Aid

Progranme. 1 9

The next few years could see a corcplete change in the approach to the administration of the public parks. The present Government's move towards the privatisation of public facilities may possibly be extended to include the parks. It has been reported that the Envirorunent Secretary, Mr. Nicholas Ridley, is in favour of introducing a scheme which \t.Ould allow the management and administration of sports centres, swinming pools and publ ic parks to be taken over by private firms. 20 Such companies \t.Ould be allowed to take over the running of these leisure facilities if they proved that they could do so at a lower cost than the local authori ty. Under this scheme, the parks \t.Ould sti 11 be owned by the Corporation, but the responsibility for their operation !,o.X)uld lie with the private corrpany. However, such ideas still exist only on paper. For the present, the parks continue to be run by the Liverpool Ci ty Counci I.

The modern city of Liverpool (it was created a city on 11th May 1880)21 has continued to spread, absorbing the surrounding villages and countryside. However, those living on the outskirts of the city, on the new estates, have the benefits of recreation grounds and their own gardens, as well as being within reach of the open countryside~ For those living in the inner suburbs or nearer to the city centre itself,

87 there are a number of parks, large and small, that they may choose to visit. SUch people owe a great deal to the foresight of those campaigning Victorians who fought to provide parks for the people. Those early parks still form a vital semi-circle of open space around the ci ty' s centre, a fore-runner of the rocxiern "green bel ts" which surround some towns today. These parks were designed to cater for the tastes of the nineteenth century urban dwellers, yet with only small modifications, they fulfil their role in the twentieth century with equal success, as revealed by the 1970 survey. If enough finance can be found to carry out the repairs to the park buildings, restoring them to their former Victorian glory, those parks created with such care in the second half of the nineteenth century wi 11 be well equipped to serve the needs of the local comnuni ty far into the coming century.

88 89

Prince's Park 1988

KEY

A- Park gates

B-Richard Vaughan Yates Memorial

C- Boathouse

0 - Tennis court

E-Bowling greens News ham Park 1988

Key

A- Iron bridge

B- Model boating lake

C- News ham House

D- Shiel Park

o<0 Stanley Park 1988

KEY

A - Stone bridge

B - Iron bridges

C-Wooden shelter

0- Iron shelter

E - Screen wall. ID... F - Iron pavilion

G- Stone pavilions

H - The Gladstone

I - Bandstand

J- Lodge 92 Sefton Park 1988

E CJ ~.-~ - -- / -----

Key overleaf KEY

A- Prince's Lodge & Gate

B- Stone grotto

C- Cricket ground

0- Peter Pan & Jolly Roger

E - Sports pavilions

F- Aviary

G- Cafe

H- Eros

I - Bandstand

J - Palm House

K - Iron bridge

L- Fulwood Lodge

M- Boathouse

N- Fountain

O-Wooden shelters

P - Tennis courts a-Bowling greens

93 1. Liverpool Heritage Bureau, 1978, p.l08.

2. Hughes, 1964, p.154.

3. Campbell, "Architecture of the Area", 1984, p.68.

4. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vo1.2.

5. Corkhill, P.F. Pageant of Peter Pan, 1928.

6. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vo1.2.

7. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.1.

8. Liverpool Echo, 9th July 1988.

9. Ibid.

10. campbell, "Archi tecture of the Area", 1984, p. 68. -

11. L.R.O., SEARCH No. 18, "Black Spot on the Mersey", 1978, p.l0.

12. Liverpool City Council Recreation and Q;>en Spaces Dept. Recreation and Leisure Services Handbook, 1985.

13. "Q;>ening of Stanley Park", Porcupine, 1870, vol.12, p. 77.

14. L.C.P., 1909/10, vol.2, pp. 675-708.

15. L.R.O., Thompson, 1904.

16. L.C.P., 1909/10, vol.2, pp.681-684.

17. Ibid., p.693.

18. Arros, F.J.C. Use of ~ Space in Liverpool, 1970.

19. "Palm House Repair", Liverpool Weekly Star, 14th July 1988.

20. Liverpool Echo, 3rdJune 1988.

21. Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vol.1.

94 The hi story and development of publ ic parks seems to have been an area largely ignored by local historians. Studies of Liverpoolts history appear to have been rrostly confined to the rrore popular subjects of shipping, the emigrant trade, the cityts architecture, housing and the individual local communities. Of the parks, only Sefton seems to have attracted any interest.! This may be due to the fact that it is the largest and rrost appealing of the parks, but the IOOre likely reason is that its creation was the best dOC\.m19nted. However, as this study has shown, information does exist to enable the historian to build a picture of how all of the earl ier parks were created, and why they were considered so important both in Liverpool and nationally. This concluding section attempts to act as a guide to the sources available to the local historian wishing to pursue a similar study.

It was important, first of all, to establish whether any previous studies had been made in this or any related area. 'J:\..o sources were particularly useful in this respect, the Aslib Index to Theses 2 and

Modern Local History Studies .::. g select bibl iography. 3 The latter was especially helpful as a guide to works written about the Victorian period as a whole and provided a valuable lead to published works on nineteenth century housing and social conditions. Amongst these, B.I. Colernants Idea of the City in Nineteenth Century Britain4 used the words of the contemporary philanthropists, statesmen and reformists themselves to build up a vivid commentary of life in the Victorian city, and the squalor and deprivation of the poorer classes. J. Burnettts Social

History of Housing 1815-1985 5 was useful, not only as a work concentrating on the bad housing conditions prevalent in the nineteenth 95 century, but also as a reference guide to other sources, both primary and secondary, on the subject.

There have been many publ ished ~rks written about the history of Liverpool. Some of these, because of their age, give an account of the eighteenth century town from a cont9lliXJrary point of view, such as J. Wallace's General and Descriptive History of the Ancient and Present State of the Town of Liverpool6 and W. Enfield's Essay Towards the

History of Liverpool. 7 The Record Office in Liverpool stocks a mnnber of nineteenth century histories of the town which, again, add their own

Victorian persepective. 8

Modern published works 9 and unpublished theses10 concerning the city's general development provide bibliographies and references which are useful in tracing some of the primary sources available. This is also the case wi th the Proceedings of local societies. Annual volumes produced by the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire and by the Architectural and Archaeological Society regularly cite references to primary sources used. 11

The Record Office in Liverpool stocks a list of unpublished titles conpiled under the SEARCH Project. This Project was conducted by St.

Katherine's College in Liverpool between January and December 1978, and it involved research in areas of local history which interested the students. The results were compiled to form a series of twenty-three 'packs', one of which was enti tIed "Black Spot on the Mersey" (SEARCH Project No.18).t2 This pack includes a detailed history and description of nineteenth century housing in Liverpool, as well as maps, diagrams, illustrations and facsimile documents. It also provides an excellent 96 bibliography with references to a number of primary sources.

Liverpool's public parks were developed as a result of a national campaign for open spaces. In order to understand the move towards publ ic parks, it was necessary to examine the role of the Government and Parliament during the canpaign. The action taken by Parliament is reveal ed in the co 11 ect i on of Par 1 i amentary Papers 13 • These i nc 1ude a series of reports submitted by Select Committees and Commissions which dealt with topics ranging from the health of towns, to the need for public walks. Fach report is divided into t\\O halves - the actual report itself, giving the conclusions and recommendations of the Conmi ttee, and the Minutes of Evidence gathered from the various representatives from each town included in the report. The Parliamentary Bills of the period include those recommending the establishment of public walks and play grounds. The General Indexes to Parliamentary Papers14 contain a subject index to guide the user to the relevant reports and bills.

Records of population growth within eighteenth and nineteenth century Liverpool are available from a number of sources. One of the earliest surveys undertaken was Simmon's Street-by-Street Census, the results of which were published in Gore's Liverpool Directory in 1790. 15 Other surveys were carried out and published in local newspapers, such as Billinqe's Liverpool Advertiser. 16 SUch sources were traced through references in other \\Orks.17 Later population counts became more organized and the resul ts are included amongst the ParI iamentary Papers 18 in the form of "Abstracts of Population Returns", which were submitted at ten-yearly intervals. These figures were derived from local Enumeration Abstracts and statistics gleaned from the local Parish

97 Registers. Tables of births and deaths in the Parish of Liverpool have also been drawn up and printed in such works as Victorian Lancashire. 19 Likewise, total population counts for Liverpool 1801-1951 have been reprinted in tabular format in B. Mitchell's Abstract of British Historical Statistics. 20

Due to the fact that rrost of the parks included in this study were created by the Corporation, a great deal of the wri tten material concerned with their construction has been deposited with the Local Record Office in Liverpool. This provides the local historian with the advantage of being able to trace many of the primary sources avai lable through the Record Office's own catalogue. This contains entries under author, title and subject for easier access to the various forms of material.

One of the rrost important sources when attempting to trace the growth of a town are maps and plans. Liverpool Record Office hold many of the plans of Liverpool drawn up during this period of rapid expansion, which are listed in the catalogue. In addition, compilations of copies of several plans of Liverpool are available in the Liverpool Packet21 series, along with descriptive notes to help the local historian.

The Liverpool Record Office catalogue was invaluable when tracing primary sources concerning the parks themselves. Entries under separate headings for each individual park were organized into three sections - the history of the park, plans of the park, and views. The first section contains several references for one of the rrost important sources for tracing the creation and development of each of the town's public parks - the Council Proceedinqs.22 These were bound annually and 98 divided into two halves. The first half contains the day-to-day business of the Council, the motions, amendments and matters resolved upon. The second half of each volume includes the annual reports of the various corrmi ttees, records of the accounts and expendi ture of each Corporation Department, and any other matters considered of special note. Each volume contains an index at the front which enables the user to find any additional information relevant to his subject which may have been omitted in the Record Office catalogue. The day-to-day business of the Council involved a series of decisions concerning the parks and these, combined with the annual accounts, build a picture of how the parks evolved.

The Record Office catalogue also guides the historian to sources of information concerning Prince's Park. The reports section in the Council Proceedings of 1909/1023 gives a resume of the park's development as a background to the debate on whether the COuncil should

take over the management of the park. This later stage of the park t s history can be followed letter by letter, and the report is very informative.

It is necessary to rely on secondary sources for same details concerning the development of Prince's Park - mostly in connection with its designer, Paxton, but again, same of these works are useful for their references and bibliographies. One such book was G.F. Chadwick's Works of Sir Joseph Paxton24 which contained references to articles in local newspapers of the day. The Local Record Office catalogue was also helpful in this respect, with entries for articles in such newspapers as the Porcupine25 and the Liverpool Review,26 through which the historian can chart the local carrpaign for public parks, the progress of their 99 creation, and their successes and failures from an observer's point of view.

The local history collections of the Branch Libraries in LIverpool also stock a useful range of public works on the varIous aspects of the city's history. AIoongst these are two volumes entitled An Everyday History of Liverpool27 which form a facsimile reprint of Gore's Annals which were published annually and document local events of each year, including the opening of the parks and exhibitions held on the sites. current newspapers also print items of interest on the parks, dealing with both historical and modern aspects.

Finally, it would be impossible to write a history of the parks without visiting them and comparing the modern parks with the original Victorian designs. The latter are stored at the local Record Office and nay be traced through the nain catalogue and a snaller index of plans kept behind the staff counter.

This concluding section has shown the range of sources available for the study of Liverpool's early public parks. Most of these are traceable through the Liverpool Record Office which is located within the city's Central Library. The search for naterial has relied to a great extent on the Record Office's own catalogue, and the whole study emphasises the importance of the Local History Librarian naintaining up-to date catalogues with multiple entries to ensure ease of access to the various sources. Above all, it stresses the ultinate role of the Librarian in providing advice and guidance to the user through the weal th of infornation available on the nany aspects of local history.

100 1. Sefton Park Civic Society, Sefton Park, 1984. 2. Aslib Index to Theses, 1950-86. 3. Loughborough Universi ty of Technology. Department of Economics, "M.A. in History and Education. Modern Local History Studies: select bibliography", 1986.

4. Co I eman, 1973. 5. Burnett, J. Social History of Housing 1815-1985, 1986. 6. Wallace, 1795. 7. Enfield, 1773. 8. Baines, E. HistorY of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, 1836, vol.4, pp. 190-199; Baines, E. HistorY, Directory and Gazatteer of the County Palatine of Lancaster, vol.1, pp.149-489. 9. Midwinter, E. Old Liverpool, 1971; Smith, W.(Ed.) Scientific Survey of Merseyside, 1953. 10. Mathias, P. "Liverpool Corporation Estate", M.A. Thesis, Liverpool University, 1957. 11. Taylor, I.C. "Court and Cellar IMellings - eighteenth century origin of the Liverpool Slum", HSLC Transactions, 1970, vol.122, pp.67-90; Lax ton , P. "Liverpool in 1801 - a manuscript return for the first national census of population", HSLC Transactions, 1981, vol.130, pp.73-113.

12. L.R.O. (SE'ARCH Project No. 18) , "Black Spot on the Mersey", 1978. 13. B.P.P.(COmmons), 1833-1845 (on microcard). 14. General Indexes to Parliamentary Papers 1801-1852. 15. L.R.O. Gore's Liverpool Directory, 1790, pp.237-256 (on microfi lm) . 16. L.R.O. Billinge's Liverpool Advertiser, 4th May 1801, p.3 (on microfilm) . 17. Laxton, P. "Liverpool in 1801: a manuscript return for the first national census of population", HSLC Transactions, 1981, vol. 130, pp.73-113. 18. B.P.P. (COmmons), 1801-33 (on microcard). 19. McCabe, A.T. "Standard of Living in Liverpool and on Merseyside 1850-1875". In: Bell, S.P. Victorian Lancashire, 1974, pp.127- 150.

101 20. Mitchell, Abstract of British Historical Statistics, 1962, p.24. 21. Liverpool Packet No.2, 1981; Liverpool Packet No.2+2, 1978; Liverpool Packet No.4, 1970. 22. L.C.P., 1865/66-1909/10. 23. L.C.P., 1909/10, pp. 675-708. 24. Chadwick, 1961, pp.46-48. 25. L.R.O. Porcupine, 1861-1870. 26. L.R.O. Liverpool Review, 1885-1886.

27. An Everyday History of Liverpool, 1981, vols. 1 and 2.

102 BIBLlOORAPHY

Background Reaciinq

Bickerton, T.H. Medical History of Liverpool from Far I iest DayS to the ~ear 1920. London: John Murray, 1936.

Blornfield, R. "Publ ic Spaces, Parks and Gardens". Art and Life and the Decoration of Cities: g series of lectures Qy members of the Arts and Crafts Exhibi tion Society. London: Rivington, Percival, 1897, pp. 167-210 •

Briggs, A. Victorian Cities. London: Odhams Press, 1963.

Chalkin, C.W. Provincial Towns of Georgian England: Study of the urban process. 1740-1820. London: Edward Arnold, 1974.

Channon, H. Pride of Parks. Liverpool: Public Relations Office, 1974.

Griffi ths, R. History of the Royal and Ancient Park of Toxteth. Liverpool: Griffiths, 1907.

Lawton, R. "Population of Liverpool in the Mid-Nineteenth Century". Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Transactions, 1955, vol.l07, pp.89-120.

Laxton, P. "Liverpool in 1801: a manuscript return for the first national census of population". Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire Transactions, 1981, vol.130, pp.73-113.

Muir, R. History of Liverpool. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1907.

Pettigrew, W.W. Municipal Parks: layout. management and administration. London: Journal of Park Administration, 1937.

Tarn, J .N. "Housing in Liverpool and Glasgow: growth of civic response". Town Planning Review, 1968/69, vo1.39, pp.319-334.

Tolley, B.H. Liverpool and the American Cotton Trade. London: Longman, 1978.

103 The Develoanent of Liverpool 3m to the Year 1860 a) Maps and Plans Liverpool Packet No.2: Maps and Plans of Liverpool from Earliest Times to 1830 (with descriptive notes by F. Spieql). Liverpool: Scouse Press, 1981. Liverpool Packet No.2+2: Maps and Plans of Liverpool from the 1830s to the Present Day (with descriptive notes by F. Spieql). Liverpool: Scouse Press, 1978. Liverpool Packet No.4: Liverpool and Manchester Rai lway (wi th descriptive notes by F. Spieql). Liverpool: Scouse Press, 1970. b) Newspapers Blllinge's Liverpool Advertiser. 4th May 1801. c) Pr imary Sources Baines, E. Baines's Lancashire: history, directory and gazetteer of the county of Lancaster.vol.!. Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1968 (reprint of original 1824 ed.). Baines, E. History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. vol.4. London: Fisher, 1836.

Bell, S.P. Victorian Lancashire. Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1974. Burnett, J. Social History of Housing, 1815-1985. London: Methuen, 1986. Everyday History of Liverpool. 2 vols. (facsimile reprint of Gore's Annals 1895-1940). Liverpool: Scouse Press, 1981. ' Gore's Liverpool Directory. 1805, p.87. MacBride, J.A.P. "Toxteth Park, site of the Sefton Park and surrounding District". Architectural and Archaeological Society Proceedings, 1866/ 67, pp.122-136. d) Secondary Sources Biddle, G. Pennine Waterway. Clapham: Dalesman, 1977. Chandler, G. Liverpool Shipping. London: Pheonix House, 1960. 104 Ferneyhough, F. Liverpool and Manchester Railway 1830-1980. London: Robert Hale, 1980. Hyde, F.E. Liverpool and the Mersey. Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1971. Mathias, P. "Liverpool Corporation Estate: a study of housing in the Moss Lake Fields of Liverpool, 1800-1875". 5 vols. (Thesis for M.A. in Architecture Liverpool University, 1957). Midwinter, E. Old Liverpool. Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1971. Mi tchell, B. Abstract of British Historical Statistics. cambridge: cambridge University Press, 1962.

Norton, P. Waterways and Railways to Warrinqton. Hull: Railway and canal Historical Society, 1974.

()...}en, D. canals to Manchester. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977. Parkinson, C.N. Rise of the Port of Liverpool. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1952.

Picton, J.A. Meroorials of Liverpool. 2 vols. Liverpool: Gilbert G. Walmsley, 1903. Smith, W. (Eel.) Scientific Survey of Merseyside. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1953.

Touzeau, J. Rise and Progress of Liverpool from 1551- 1835. 2 vols. Liverpool: Liverpool Booksellers, 1910.

105 'nle History and Develoanent of the Parks a) Maps and Plans (All held in Liverpool Record Office)

Plan of the Prince's Park now in progress, near Liverpool. 1844.

Stanley Park. 1865. (Plan Nb.154).

Plan of the proposed Newsham Park. 1867.

Plan of Newsham Park, belonging to the Corporation of Liverpool shewing building si tes for sale. Scale 1": 120ft, 1867.

Plan of the site of the Proposed Sefton Park. With contour lines at every 5ft. Scale 1":180ft, 1867.

Plan of the Proposed Sefton Park. Li thograph of Messrs. Hornblower and Andre's Prize Plan for the Sefton Park, presented with the Liverpool Journal 4th May 1867.

Plan of Sefton Park, the Property of the Mayor, Aldennan and Burgesses of Liverpool, 1870.

Plan of Sefton Park. Drawn by Thomas Shelmerdine Junior, Corporation Surveyor. Scale 1": 117yds, 1882. b) Newspapers

Liverpool Citizen. 11th July 1888.

Li verpool Echo. 3rd June and 9th July 1988.

Liverpool Mercury. Weekly. 1842-1843.

Liverpool Review. 4th OCtober 1879 and 29th May 1886.

Liverpool Weekly Star. 14th July 1988.

Porcupine. Weekly. 1861-1870. c) Official Publications

"Report of the Select Conmittee on Public Walks". British Parlia mentary Papers, 1833, vol.XV, p.337. (microcard) 1

"Bi 11 to facil i tate the Formation and Establishment of Publ ie Walks". British Parliamentary Papers, 1835, vol.IV, pp.67 and 75. (microcard)

"Bi 11 for the Establishment of Public Walks". British ParI iamentary Papers, 1837, vol.IV,.p.61. (microcard)

"Report from the Select Conmittee on the Heal th of Towns". Bri tish Parliamentary Papers, 1840, vol.XI, p.277.(microcard)

106 "Estimates etc., Miscellaneous Services for Year ending 31st March 1842". British Parliamentary Papers, 1841, vel.XIV, p.475. (microcard) "Public Walks: Return of the Manner in which £10,000 veted for Public Walks in 1840 was expended". Bri tish Parlia mentary Papers, 1843, vel.XXX, p. 727. (microcard) "First Report of the Royal Cornnission inquiring into the State of large Towns and Populous Districts". British Parlia mentary Papers, 1844, vel.XVII. (microcard) "Second Report of the Royal Cornnission inquiring into the State of large Towns and Populous Districts". British Parlia mentary Papers, 1845, vel.XVIII. (microcard) "Abstract of the Answers and Returns of the Population". British Parliamentary Papers, 1801/2, vels.VI and VIIi 1812, VOl.XIi 1822, vel. XVi 1833, vol.XXXVI. (microcard)

Act for Promoting the Public Health. 1848, 11 & 12 Vic, cap.LXIII. "Return of the Ntunbers of the Population and Houses, according to the Census of 1851". British Parliamentary Papers, 1852, vel.XLII, p.475. (microcard) d) Primary Sources

Am:>s, F. J. C . Use of ~ Space in Liverpool: Report of a survey commissioned by Liverpool Corpor ation and undertaken by Ken Balmer. City of Liverpool Recreation and ~n Spaces Dept. and City Planning Dept., 1970. Corkh ill, P. F. Pageant of Peter Pan. Liverpool, 1928. Enfield, W. Essay towards the History of Liverpool, 1773 Liverpool: Rondo, 1972 (facsimile reprint). Finch, J. Statistics of Vauxhall Ward, Liverpool: The condi tion of the \<,Orking class in Liverpool in 1842. Liverpool: Toulouse Press, 1986 (facsimile reprint). Gore's Liverpool Directory, 1790.

Liverpool Counci I Proceedings, 1865-1910. 2 Thonpson, H. Y. Meroorandurn on the proposed adoption of Prince's Park .Qy the City of Liverpool, 1904.

Wallace, J. General and Descriptive History of the Ancient and Present State of the Town of Liverpool. Liverpool, 1795.

107 e) Secondary Sources

Boult, J. "Former and Recent Topography of Toxteth Park" . Archi tectural and Archaeological Proceedings, 1867/68, pp. 18-34. Chadwick, G. Works of Sir Joseph Paxton. London: Arch itectural Press, 1961. Coleman, B. I. Idea of the Ci ty in Nineteenth Century Britain. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. Dyos, H.J.and Wolff, M. Victorian City: Images and Realities. vol.2 London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973.

Hughes, Q. Seaport: Archi tecture and Townscape in Li verpoo 1 • London: Percy Lund, Hun'phr i es , 1964. Liverpool City Council Recreation and Leisure Services Handbook. Recreation and Open Gloucester: British Publishing, 1985. Spaces Dept. Liverpool Heritage Buildings of Liverpool. Liverpool: City Bureau. Planning Dept., 1978. Mi 11 ington, R. House in the Park. Liverpool: Town Clerk's Dept., 1957. Patmore, J.A. and Merseyside in Maps. London: Longman, 1970. Hodgkiss, A.G. (Eds.)

SEARCH Project No. 18. "Black Spot on the Mersey". (An unpublished collection of notes and illustrations on nineteenth century housing in Liverpool. Corrpiled by St. Katherine's College, Liverpool, 1978).3 Sefton Park Civic Sefton Park. Liverpool: Sefton Park Civic Society. SOCiety, 1984. Taylor, I.C. "Court and Cellar Dwell ing: Eighteenth Century origin of the Liverpool Slum". Historical SOCiety of Lancashire and Cheshire Transactions, 1970, vel.122, pp.67-90.

108 1. Loughborough University and Liverpool City Libraries both hold microfilm editions of B.P.P. 2. L.C.P. - Held at Liverpool Record Office. 3. Held at Liverpool Record Office.