everysinglestreet

#everysinglestreet [11/10/20] Chelwood Avenue, Bowland Avenue and Bentham Drive

Graham Holland   

Stats

  • Sunday 11th October 2020
  • 39 streets – Alban Road, Baldwin Avenue, Basil Close, Basil Road, Bentham Drive, Betjeman Grove, Bowland Avenue, Burns Close, Castletown Close, Chelwood Avenue, Chorlton Close, Christopher Close, Christopher Way, Cloby Close, Dominic Close, Dominic Road, Dover Grove, Eastham Close, Edenhurst Avenue, Francis Way, Glenvine Close, Gregory Close, Gregory Way, Harwich Grove, Lanfanc Close, Lanfranc Way, Manvers Road, Masefield Grove, Origen Road, Peacehaven Close Saint Paschal Baylon Boulevard, Sartfield Close, Stonehaven Close, Surby Close, Winburne Close, Thornton Road, Walsingham Road, Weymouth Close, Woodbank Close.
  • Total: 1,369 (24.34%)
  • Remaining: 4,256

Notes

According to the trees it’s Autumn!

Many (but not all) of the roads off Baldwin Avenue are named after poets. Masefield, Burns, Betjeman, and (of course) Baldwin.

I popped across the border from Liverpool into Knowsley to take a couple of photos inside Court Hey Park.

Visited St Paschal Baylon primary school. This was the closest school to my primary school Craighurst and were our bitter rivals at football. The name got shortened to SPB, but the kids used to call it Spazzy Baylon (back in the days when the word ‘spastic’ was a normal insult). The church building must be one of the ugliest around.

There’s a stream that runs along the entire length of Court Hey Park before disappearing into a culvert just by SPB church. I’m assuming at some point it finds its way into Netherley Brook.

The site where The Coronation pub used to stand is still fenced off. It was demolished in 2008 and I’m surprised the land hasn’t been built on yet.

There are playing fields on Barnham Drive. When I was at secondary school we’d occasionally be bussed out here for PE lessons when we were forced to play rugby. I hated every last minute of it.

Whenever I see Bentham Drive I can’t help thinking about Pete Bentham and the Dinner Ladies. Look them up!

I’m 50, so why is it I’ve only just realised that the roads off Bentham Drive are all named after saints? Dominic, Basil, Francis, Gregory, Christopher, Origen. Lanfanc wasn’t a saint, but he did become the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Cadwa Hall is on Bowland Avenue. It stands for Chelwood & District Welfare Association. I had to look that up. I always thought the ‘C’ stood for Childwall! I remember back in the 1980s and 90s they had a thriving amateur dramatic society here and used to put on a couple of shows each year. They have a garden of remembrance with a plaque inscribed with ‘sic vis non vobis’ (for you, but not yours) which were the words Vergil wrote on the wall when another poet had plagiarised his work.

The cul-de-sac section of Gregory Close has a really nice community feel to it. There’s bunting criss-crossing the street, and many of the houses have planters and benches on the pavement.

I took a photo of an Indian restaurant called Khalisa on Bentham Drive. It used to be New Ayesha, and it’s the place I treated my Mum for a meal out when I got my first ever pay cheque.

Opposite Khalisa and the Cooperative Food is a footpath that takes pedestrians over the Liverpool Loop Line (“The Rella”) – the disused railway line that’s now a footpath and part of the national cycle network. Until today I’d never been along this path, and wasn’t even sure where it led to. On the other side there’s a path that goes down to Chelwood Avenue. The bridge at the top of the rise is double width which makes me wonder if this was ever a road at some point in the past. UPDATE: I’ve just had a look at the Chelwood Avenue end and it definitely looks like this used to be a road, or at least was originally planned to be a road.

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