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#everysinglestreet [18/04/21] The last of the roads off Rice Lane and the ghost of Liverpool Zoo

Graham Holland    

St Nathaniel’s Church (founded 1909) is pretty with its black and white wood beamed exterior and bell tower. It was threatened with closure in 2010 but the congregation fought back and won a reprieve. 

The Bakery Inn (1876) on the corner of Rice Lane and Rawcliffe Road is in a sorry state. This was originally a bakery run by William Webster. There are two external doors on the side with a pulley at the top, presumably for hauling up the sacks of flour. 

Right at the end of Rawcliffe Road, just by the entrance to Walton Park Cemetery, is Rice Lane City Farm. It’s a not-for-profit farm with goats, cows, sheep, rabbits, ducks, chickens and more. The farm has 24 acres of field and woodlands. They sell eggs!

Grey Road is probably the closed I’ll get to a Graham Road. 

I came across another instance where each side of a road has a different name. There’s a section of Harper Road where one side is Harper Road and the other side is Percy Villas. 

Half way down Cederdale Road there are two units which were built as shops. One of them is still a general store but the other is now just a house.

On Rice Lane, just next to Sainsburys, is The Plough Inn (1894), now Bonnie Bear children’s day care. To the left  is DiDi’s Gate House Pizza (You Ringo, Didi’s Bringo…). This is the only remaining structure from Liverpool Zoo. There had been a zoo off West Derby Road but that closed in 1865. The Liverpool Zoological Company opened the new zoo in Walton in 1884. As was common in zoos at the time many of the animals were allowed to roam free and it wasn’t a surprise when some of them went missing. Only having a small range of animals, and being located outside the city of Liverpool, the zoo struggled to attract visitors. Extra attractions were added, including boats on the lake, dancing and performances in the pavilion, and a firework display. 

This wasn’t enough to keep it afloat though, and two years later they held a liquidation sale where you could have bought a pair of leapers for £62, a carved Maori temple, or a 6,000 year old Inca mummy. This wasn’t enough to save it and it eventually closed in 1897.

Clock View Hospital is on the site of the old Walton Hospital. The large building with the clock tower was completed in 1869 as a workhouse, designed to house 1,200 inmates. Over the years it expanded to include a school, children’s wards, an infirmary, a chapel, and a quarantine block. The workhouse became Walton Institution, then Walton Hospital, before closing in the late 1990s when services were transferred to Fazakerley Hospital. 

I spotted a Scouse license plate on a van – SC60 USE.

I ended up back at Breeze Hill, this time making it down to the flyover. Round the corner at the start of Rice Lane is the former Walton County Police Station. It’s called a ‘county police station’ because it wasn’t inside the city of Liverpool when it was built in 1885.

“Maria, I just met a road called Maria.” 

And then back to the car, parked outside a former Library, now repurposed.  

Stats

  • Sunday 18th April 2021
  • 57 streets
    Arthur Street, Gladstone Road, Lancaster Street, Rawcliffe Road, York Street, Aboyne Close, Anglesea Road, Ashdale Road, Barton Road, Birchdale Road, Gambrel Close, Breeze Hill, Blackbird Close, Breeze Lane, Buchanan Road, Carnarvon Road, Cederdale Road, Clock Tower Drive, Corkdale Road, Crescent Road, Denbigh Road, Elmdale Road, Evered Avenue, Fazakerley Road, Fazakerley Close, Firdale Road, Florence Close, Grey Road, Harper Road, Hazeldale Road, Helena Street, Herbarth Close, Highfield Road, Imison Street, Imison Way, Ivydale Road, Joules Close, Kiddman Street, Larchdale Grove, Lochinvar Street, Maria Road, Oakhouse Park, Parkinson Road, Peveril Street, Stalmine Road, Stuart Road, Stuart Road North, Taylors Close, Taylors Lane, Tressell Street, Trevelyan Street, Valentine Walk, Weaver Street, Wellfield Road, Willowdale Road, Yewdale Road, Percy Villas
  • Total: 3,315 (58.49%)
  • Remaining: 2,353

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