ess097 walton breck road dairy
everysinglestreet

#everysinglestreet [06/04/21] The last of the roads off Oakfield Road and Lower Breck Road

Graham Holland    

I thought I’d make the most of an extra closure day at work to get in a longer run than I’ve managed of late. Today I completed the last of the roads off Oakfield Road in Anfield.

Off Breckfield Road North there’s a short stub of a street, the only remaining section of Friar Street. This was one of a number of religiously named roads along with Canon Street, Priory Road, Cowl Street, Verger Street, Mission Place, and Church Place that didn’t survive the bulldozers. 

On the corner of St Domingo Vale and Breckfield Road North there used to be a Methodist Chapel, connected to the formation of Everton Football Club. 

On the corner of Walton Breck Road and Valley Road is what used to be a dairy. Unlike other urban dairies I’ve come across on my runs, this one has a bull’s head on the front! It’s more than a little worse for wear having lost its horns, but it’s still flanked by a couple of sheep.

There’s an illustration of what this used to look like on the Walking Book website. There’s also a photo from the air showing Handfield Street and Sockbridge Street converging at an acute angle. You can compare it with the ground level photo. http://www.walkingbook.co.uk/liverpool/anfield/pages/terraces.htm

When I saw the building next to Holy Trinity Church I assumed it to be the church hall. Looking a little deeper I discovered it was actually The Rawdon Reading Room, funded by a fund set up by Unitarian philanthropist Christopher Rawdon. Rawdon made his money in the woollen business, and took a keen interest in the development of canals and railways. He also supported education, promoting Pleasant Street School in the city centre.
https://liverpoolhistorysociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Newsletter-No.-46-Summer-2016.pdf 

It never ceases to amaze me when I come across a pub in the middle of a terraced street. The Midden and The Old Barn are hidden away from the main street and aren’t places you’re likely to just wander upon unless you’re running every street in Liverpool!

Two derelict buildings on Oakfield Road. Oak Hall looks like the entire top floor was a single hall, at one point home of L4 Fight Club. Next to it is the abandoned Richmond Baptist Sunday School, founded in 1865 and re-built in 1930. The church building round the corner on Breck Road is now the Bait-Ul-Lateef Mosque. Richmond Baptist Church is still active, joining forces with the Good News Mission in 2018 and moving into their wooden-fronted building to the right hand side of an old house on Oakfield. 

Before being demolished Windermere Street was originally a terraced street the same as neighbouring Grasmere, Coniston, Ullswater and Rydal. For whatever reason these houses were never replaced with new properties which means the properties backing onto it have ended up with longer gardens. 

The wall at the corner of Faraday Street and Thirlmere Road is curved. For some reason the builders of the wall decided they still needed to mark the footprint of the owned land so erected an odd little metal fence. 

Stats

  • Tuesday 4th April 2021
  • 59 streets
    Bala Street, Becky Street, Boycott Street, Breckfield Road North, Castlewood Road, Coniston Street, Crouch Street, Dacy Road, Sowning Street, Wxmond Street, Faraday Street, Friar Street, Grasmere Street, Handfield Place, Handfield Street, Hanwell Street, Harding Close, Heyes Street, Larch Lea, Letchworth Street, Little Heyes Street, Lower Breck Road, Ludwig Road, Newcombe Street, Oakfield, Old Barn Road, Pendennis Street, Premier Street, Redbourn Street, Redbrook Street, Redcar Mews, Redcar Street, Redford Street, Rendal Close, Richmond Park, Robarts Road, Rydal Street, Sedley Street, Springband Road, St Ambrose Grove, St Andrew Road, St David’s Road, St Domingo Grove, Stockbridge Place, Stockbridge Street, Stonehill Avenue, Stonehill Street, Taplow Street, Thirmere Green, Thirlmere Road, Twickenham Street, Twyford Street, Tynemouth Close, Ullswater Street, Valley Road, Waterhouse Close, Westcott Road, Windermere Street, Wolverton Street
  • Total: 3,183 (56.18%)
  • Remaining: 2,483

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