ess067 bread streets
everysinglestreet

#everysinglestreet [24/12/20] The Bread streets, Herculaneum Steps and Riverside Drive

Graham Holland    

Stats

  • Thursday 24th December 2020
  • 38 streets – Althorp Street, Armstrong Quay, Badminton Street, Barchester Drive, Bempton Road, Bowood Street, Burgundy Close, Calvados Close, Carleen Close, Charlecote Street, Charleston Road, Claret Close, Cockburn Street, Dingle Road, Draycott Street, Ellerman Road, Elswick Street, Garswood Street, Gosford Street, Haylock Close, Herculaneum Road, Hythedale Close, Ironbridge View, Kerris Close, Lavrock Bank, Lindfield Close, Melwood Street, Moel Fame View, Montpelier Drive, Netherby Street, Paulton Close, Penhale Close, Riverside Drive, Rosewarne Close, Sandbeck Street, Savoylands Close, Shelmore Drive, Westbury Close
  • Total: 2,340 (41.61%)
  • Remaining: 3,283

Notes

Starting at Otterspool I ran the whole length of Riverside Drive. On the right hand side there’s a small gap in the hedge leading to a gate in the fence. The other side is the end of Fulwood Park, a private road off Aigburth Road.

There are lots of posh houses in Riverview Park, including a few that have been constructed using old, re-claimed bricks. This makes them look both old and new at the same time. Weird!

Moel Famau View doesn’t have a view of Moel Famau. Maybe it would if there wasn’t a bank of trees in the way!

I took a few photos inside Festival Gardens. I’ve still not been for a walk round since it opened. It was nice to see the Chinese pagoda on the other side of the lake.

From The Britannia Inn you can see across the river to the large, square building at Cammell Laird shipyard where the recently launched RSS Sir David Attenborough was built.

Next to the AQ planters outside Armstrong Quay is a plaque in memory of Stephen Standish, a 21 years old who dropped dead in 2001 while playing football. The cause of death was unknown.

From Riverside Drive you can see the cliff face that separates Dingle from the river. Two tunnels enter the cliff. The Dingle Tunnel is now disused. The other tunnel with the iron bridge at the top carries the Merseyrail line.

To get from Riverside Drive up to the Dingle I took the Herculaneum Steps, known locally as the Dockers’ Steps. These steps enabled access down to Herculaneum Dock when it opened in 1866. The City Quay housing development is now on the site. Herculaneum Dock was originally the terminal station for the Liverpool Overhead Railway before the extension to Dingle was built.

At the top of the steps is Grafton Street which runs along the top of the cliff edge. There are 12 streets that slope down from Cockburn Street, each with views out across the River Mersey. These are referred to locally as ‘the Bread streets’ because the 1980s hit sitcom Bread was filmed here. Elswick Street adopted the fictional name Kelsall Street. In the show the Boswell family lived at 30 Kelsall Street and was headed by matriarch Nellie Boswell. Husband Freddie left for an Irish mistress “Lilo Lil”, leaving the five children Adrian, Jack, Joey, Aveline and Billy to support the family. By total coincidence Eileen Pollock who played Lilo Lil died yesterday.

Bread – opening titles

There are a number of gaps in these rows of terraced houses where you’ll find strange, circular towers. These are the tops of ventilation shafts for the Merseyrail line tunnel below. Ironbridge Close looks out over a green space with just the top of the iron bridge that spans the top of the Merseyrail tunnel showing at the end. The other side of the green space is the end of Herculaneum Road, on which The Herculaneum Bridge pub can be found. The bridge in question used to span the gap from Grafton Street down to Herculaneum Dock. The two stone posts either side of the bridge entrance can still be seen. The tweet below has more photos showing the bridge.

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