ess105 walton hall park
everysinglestreet milestone

#everysinglestreet [24/04/21] All the roads round Walton Hall Park

Graham Holland    

I parked in the Walton Hall Park sports centre car park. There was a fitness class and football matches taking place giving a feeling of normality returning.

Walton Hall Park was opened by King George V in 1934 when he was in Liverpool to open the Queensway Tunnel. The park is 130 acres and contains two lakes, a community garden, and a football ground where Everton Ladies Football Club play their Women’s Super League matches. The park takes its name from the hall that used to stand where the tennis courts are now on Walton Hall Avenue. The hall fell into disrepair after the death of the last owner, and was demolished after the land was bought by Liverpool Corporation and the park laid out. 

Like Walton Hall Avenue, many of Liverpool’s arterial roads have tree-lined central reservations. Back when the road was first built this would have been where the trams (trolley busses) ran. Liverpool’s tram network was extensive and covered the entire city. However, it became run-down and too expensive to run, with more and more lines closing over time. The last Liverpool tram took its final journey on 14th September 1957 from the Pier Head to Edge Lane depot where it remained until it was bought the next year and shipped out to The Seahorse Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, USA. I wonder if it’s still there!

All of the roads round the north side of the park are build on land where the Huskisson Branch of the Cheshire Lines Railway used to run. Most of the roads are named after trees and plants – Blackthorne, Plane, Palm, Walnut, Sycamore, Hornbeam, Buttercup, Lavender, Honeysuckle. 

The Huskisson Branch was a section of railway that ran from the Liverpool Loop Line to Huskisson Goods Station on the north side of Boundary Street. Right at the end of Rice Lane opposite the roundabout was situated Walton-on-the-Hill station. Three tunnels (with two cuttings) took the line through to near Kirkdale Station. 

Walton-on-the-Hill station opened in 1879 and ran passenger services north to Aintree, and 13 miles all the way round the loop line to Liverpool Central. Given that the city centre was just 3½ miles away by road this route wasn’t a success and the station closed to passengers in 1918. The last goods train ran in July 1975, and the line was removed in 1978.

The entrance can still be seen in the wall (see photo).

There are five terraced streets on the edge of the park, between Walton Hall Avenue and Queens Drive. As I was running down the first one I was struck by the peculiar design of the front walls. It wasn’t until I saw that the streets are all named after ocean liners – Mauretania, Lusitania, Sylvania, Saxonia, Ivernia – that I realised the walls are designed to look like ocean waves!

There’s another triangular house at the junction of Mauretania Road and Lusitania Road. Just round the corner is a Queen Victoria postbox. At the other end of Mauretania there’s a bollard with a knitted caterpillar covering the top. This is known as ‘yarn bombing’. 

Stats

  • Saturday 24th April 2021
  • 47 streets
    Barbrook Way, Betula Close, Blackbrook Close, Blackthorne Road, Buttercup Way, Carnation Road, Cassia Close, Cavendish Drive, Charnook Rood, Chestnut Road, Citron Close, Coleus Close, Conifer Close, Dahlia Close, Forsythia Close, Freesia Avenue, Genista Close, Glaslyn Way, Haggerston Road, Hollingworth Close, Honeysuckle Drive, Hornbeam Road, Ivernia Road, Lavender Way, Lime Tree Close, Lobelia Avenue, Lusitania Road, Manorbier Crescent, Maretania Road, Moor Lane, Palm Close, Pampas Grove, Plane Close, Primula Drive, Raydale Close, Rosedale Close, Saxonia Road, Silverlake Close, Storefront Close, Sycamore Close, Sylvania Road, Tarnmere Close, Walnut Avenue, Walton Grange, Waterfall Drive, Welfare Close, Woolhope Road.
  • Total: 3,430 (60.52%)
  • Remaining: 2,238
  • Milestone: 60% of Liverpool completed

Photos on Facebook

All of the photos from this run are in a publically viewable Facebook album.

To view them click here.

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Great North Run

I’m running the Great North Run for the first time on Sunday 12th September, raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK. My mum has Alzheimers so this charity is close to my heart. If you can spare a couple of quid to help me reach my target I would be extremely grateful.

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