ess052 gillmoss onions
everysinglestreet

#everysinglestreet [14/11/20] Gillmoss: Part 1 – Here be dragons and onions

Graham Holland   

Stats

  • Saturday 14th November 2020
  • 30 streets – Altcross Road, Altcross Way, Back Gillmoss Lane, Callestock Close, Christowe Way (not on the map), Cockerham Way (no longer exists), Crantock Close, Crediton Close, Dodman Road, Dragon Close, Falmouth Road, Gillmoss Close, Gillmoss Lane, Griffin Close, Kennford Road, Malpas Road, Mullion Road, Mullion Walk, Newtown Road, Newtown Walk, Newlyn Road, Newlyn Walk, Otterton Road, Parkstile Lane, Petherick Road, Portsmouth Road, Riviera Drive, Standard Road, Totnes Road, Unicorn Road
  • Total: 1,741 (31%)
  • Remaining: 3,882

Notes

According to Wikipedia Gillmoss is a human settlement between Croxteth, Fazakerley and Kirkby. To most local people it’s “that estate on the right when you’re leaving Liverpool on the East Lancs Road. You know, the one just after the Showcase Cinema near the bus depot.”

For the first time in a long time I set out with a map in hand but no set plan for a route. I hadn’t been looking forward to Gillmoss as I (unfairly?) prejudged it as a run-down, out of town housing estate. Well it is a run down, out of town housing estate, but there was still plenty of interest to keep me going!

I started off running along the East Lancs Road to the boundary with Knowsley, just by the bridge over Croxteth Brook. It’s noticeable by the footpath where Knowsley ends and Liverpool starts…

At the junction by the bus terminus there’s a small garden. Originally this would have just been a piece of green with paths running through it, but now it contains a selection of planters for members of the local community to use. And they’re certainly being put to good use as I saw onions, radishes, carrots, corn, and various other vegetables. There’s a raised wooden container in two halves – on the left is where you place the plants that are ready to eat. Anyone can come along and take what they need. On the right is where people leave donations for the garden – seeds, plants and tools. We really should do more of this across the city. There are plenty of green spaces where this could happen.

I found Christowe Walk. It’s a pedestrian street that’s not on the map. The only sign that it exists is a washed out road sign on one house. I added it to OpenStreetMap, to the delight of the resident with the mighty fine garden. Throne Walk has signs but is still missing from the map so I added that too.

There used to be a housing estate in the space bordered by Gillmoss, Stonebridge Lane and the East Lancs Road. This was knocked down some years ago, but some of the roads still exist on OpenStreetMap so I’ve deleted them. The tarmac roads still exist (as does an abandoned telecoms box) but they’re now blocked off.

On Parkstile Lane round the back of Gillmoss there’s a glimpse back to the time of the original rural settlement with an old, red-bricked cottage.

There’s a pocket park called Unicorn Park, so naturally the roads next to it are named after mythical creatures – Unicorn Road, Griffin Close, and Dragon Close (although everyone knows dragons are real). There’s a footpath down an alleyway that cuts between Altcross Road and Dragon Close. For some reason the City Council saw fit to not only name it – Dragon Walk – but to give it a road sign!

Christmas has arrived at one house on Riviera Drive where the front lawn is now home to reindeer and a Christmas train. Further down there was a camper van that was so completely covered in camouflage I could barely see it…

Altcross Road is home to Croxteth Communiversity and a Lifestyles Fitness Centre (currently being used for Covid-19 testing).

I took a selfie standing right in the middle of Middle Way.

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