everysinglestreet

#everysinglestreet [25/10/20] Aigburth Vale, St Michael-in-the-Hamlet, & Riverside Gardens

Graham Holland   

Stats

  • Sunday 25th October 2020
  • 37 streets – Allington Street, Alpass Road, Alwyn Street, Beech Avenue, Belgrave Road, Blythswood Street, Britannia Crescent, Bryanston Road, Buckland Street, Camelia Court, Chetwynd Street, Colebrooke Road, Cottonwood, Delmeny Street, Dingle Vale, Eastwood, Errol Street, Floral Wood, Gardenia Grove, Glendale Close, Herculaneum Court, Jasmine Mews, Lambton Road, Melly Road, Orchid Grove, Priory Close, Promenade Gardens, Rosslyn Street, Saint Michaels Road, Sandhurst Street, Shorefields Village, Southwood Road, The Bulrushes, Thirlstane Street, Thistledown Close, Thorntree Close, Westward View.
  • Total: 1,513 (26.91%)
  • Remaining: 4,110

Notes

Today I ran the terraces streets off Aigburth Road in the area known as Aigburth Vale. The streets must have been built by different builders because the houses differ in style from one road to the next. There are some that stand out, such as the house with the circular tower at the end, and the one totally covered in ivy.

I ran past the house where Stan Ambrose (Stan the Harper) lived until his death four years ago. He’s still missed. There’s a blurry photo of a house with the original exposed brickwork. I stopped to take a photo and the net curtains twitched, then ten seconds later the door opened. An older woman (late 60s?) shouted to ask why I was taking a photo of her house. I went across and explained I was running down every single street in Liverpool and taking photos of interesting things along the way. Rather than showing an interest, she cut me off and demanded I delete the photo. I said of course I will, but decided not to because she’d been so rude. I’m disappointed the photo isn’t very clear. And I wish I’d said to her “No, I won’t delete the photo.”

I find abandoned and boarded up red-bricked pubs like The Belgrave on Bryanston Road very sad.

Some distance away from the church is St Michael’s Church Room and Sunday School building, looking strangely out of place on a row of terraces houses.

I don’t think I’ve ever been down St Michael’s Road before. There are lots of older buildings from before the hamlet was absorbed into the City of Liverpool. St Michael’s is a designated conservation area, and St Michael’s-in-the-Hamlet Church – known as the Cast Iron Church – is Grade 1 listed.

At the end of St Michaels Road is the entrance to Priory Wood, so named because it’s where the priory used to stand. The stone archway entrance still stands, with a cross carved into the side.

The last time I was at St Michaels Station was in 1984 when we got the train from Grandma’s house in Aigburth and walked through Priory Woods to visit the Liverpool International Garden Festival. The site has since been reopened as Festival Gardens, although I’ve not visited it yet.

I finished off with a run round all the streets in Riverside Gardens. These were built at the same time as the Garden Festival and Riverside Drive, and some of the houses are very posh!

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